Artistically Sensual
by KrystalizedKiss
Summary: Ch5: Amu continues to try to figure out Ikuto's problem while learning a horrifying secret about Rima. As things couldn't get much worse, Ikuto reveals Kairi for who he truly once was. Amuto. R&R.
1. Purple Cat

Artistically Sensual  
A Shugo Chara! Fanfic

Summary:  
Amu Hinamori is 18 and recently graduated high school. She decided to apply at an Art/Music college to see where it takes her, and she ended up meeting Ikuto Tsukiyomi, who seems to be the greatest dancer Amu's ever met! Amuto. R&R.

**Author's Note:**  
Again, testing of the waters and see how you people like it. This idea had been bugging me for awhile, since I've been listening to awesome music non-stop lately and I thought I'd give it a shot. Depending on how many reviews I get, I might hurry up with the next chapter because this story is very inspirational. I was going to make this a sort-of sequel to Hot Chocolate, but decided against it because this story may have the same age gaps of Amu and Ikuto, but everyone else is different. And since in Hot Chocolate, it mentioned Shugo Charas, I couldn't write this story without somehow involving them. So sorry. In this story, if I ever mention the Shugo Charas, they'll be human, obviously. Now, let's see how this story shall go, shall we?

And again, I had no one beta read this story for me so I hope my grammar is all right and not awkward. And if should any of the characters become out of place, please feel free to tell me so!

Oh, also, I intended that this story was going to get very steamy, but there's no details in the mature stuff in here. BUT, there's going to be PLENTY of sexual tension. -smirks-

**Disclaimer:**  
Shugo Chara and all related characters and elements are the property, copyright and trademark of Peach Pit and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.

* * *

Chapter One: Purple Cat

The pale-pinked haired female glared at the envelope before her. She was so eager and hopeful for when the letter would finally come, but after having been rejected from several different colleges already, this was her last hope. The Institute of the Artistically Sensational of Nevada was prestigious and no doubt, the toughest school to get in. Despite the fact that it was located in Nevada, it was actually in one of the most promising locations as it was set near California of Los Angelos, Las Vegas, and San Francisco as well as Hollywood. She was actually eager to go and explore a new place and meet new people. She was interested in seeing Las Vegas, as she heard that the place was the city that never slept and being as she was of legal age, she was able to go into clubs and such, but the only con of this is that she was under legal drinking age. She didn't mind though, as long as she get to see the city that never sleeps, next to New York City of course.

She sighed, again, still glaring at the envelope before her.

"Amu!" her mother called her, snapping her out of her glaring/staring contest with the envelope. Before she could answer, her mother popped her head in to take a look at what her daughter was doing. "Still glaring at the envelope?" she sighed. "You know, it's best to get it over with and find out if you made it in or not."

"I know… but the toughest part is that this is my last hope, my last school that I've applied at," Amu groaned. She did not like that this was her last option as well as her dream school.

Her mother sighed, aggravated. "If you don't want to open it, do you want me to open it for you?"

"Yes please!" Amu eagerly thrust her envelope into her mother's hands.

She sighed as she took it and sat across from Amu on her bed. Amu fidgeted on the bed as her mother fixed her glasses momentarily before she opened the envelope. After she did, she skimmed the letter before giving the letter to Amu.

"I-Is it good news?" she whispered, scared to take the letter.

"Amu… I don't have all day…" her mother sighed again.

Closing her eyes, she snatched the letter and slowly opened her eyes. When she read the first line, she jumped up from her bed and screamed out in joy. "YES! I MADE IT IN!" she shouted out in glee. Her mother only shook her head with a smile before watching her daughter dancing around.

"Congratulations, Amu," she said as she hugged her overly happy daughter.

"Oh, man, I'm so excited!" she hugged her mother back. "I'm so happy!"

"Well now, let's go prepare dinner for your celebration of getting in, hmm?"

Before Amu could answer, her little sister raced into the room. "Nee-chan, did you make it in?" Her little sister had bright eyes and a sparkling smile. She looked eager to find out if she had indeed made it in. At this moment in time, her little sister was only eleven years old; a long way to go before she catches up to her admired older sister.

Amu laughed, "Yes, Ami, I made it in!" As she spoke, she lifted up her little sister into the air and hugged her. "Now, let's go downstairs and celebrate!"

* * *

Now, here she was, at the college's grounds and boy, was the grounds _huge_! Well, she shouldn't be shocked as there were dorms in one area of the grounds and all sorts of studios all over the grounds. Deciding that she should check in with the dorms first, she walked in and found herself in a small lobby for the girls. On her left was a little sitting area with a large LED TV screen of 56 inches. There was two students sitting there before they decided to get up and put it away; she watched with slight awe as she watched it slide down into the cabinet below it.

Snapping herself out of her awe, she walked over to the office on her right and entered the small office. Inside was a small desk with a woman sitting behind the desk as she looked at some papers and a computer on her left. When Amu entered, the woman looked up and greeted her with a smile.

"Hello, welcome to Dormitory B of the Institute of the Artistically Sensational," she greeted as she stood up to shake hands with Amu. "I'm Koko, and I'm the supervisor of this dorm. May I have your name please?"

"I'm Amu Hinamori," Amu said, walking forward.

"Ah, you're new this year," Koko noted as she skimmed through the contents on the computer screen. "Hmm… I'll be printing out your dorm room information as well as some information on your roommates." Amu vaguely heard the sound of something printing somewhere… "Here you are." She handed Amu a slip of warm paper with numbers and information on it. Before Amu could really look at it, Koko also handed Amu her room key.

"Don't lose that, because we rarely make new ones for lost ones… of course, should that happen, please report to me." Koko had walked back to sitting behind her desk. "It's suggested you put it around your neck at all times, so that you don't lose it."

Luckily, Amu only carried two bags, one was on a rolling suitcase that held her dancing gear and clothes and the other bag which was on the handle of the suitcase, was filled with other miscellaneous things that Amu felt that she needed.

"Yes, okay," Amu nodded. "Is that all?"

"Hmm… everything seems to be in order… yes, after you've set your belongings down, go check in at the school's front office so that you may get your class schedule. Other than that, classes do not start for another two days, so you can enjoy yourself at the centers we have. There'll be a map for each student here in their dorm room so that you don't get lost. If you have any other questions, just ask me here, or call me through extension xxxx. All right?"

Amu nodded and said, "It was nice meeting you, Koko."

"The pleasure was all mine, now please, go ahead and enjoy yourself."

After that, Amu left the office and decided to begin heading to her dorm room. _Let's see…_ Amu thought as she looked at the sheet of paper:

_Dormitory B_

_Dorm Room: 431_

_Roommates: Yaya Yuiki, Rima Mashiro, Utau Hoshina_

_Yaya Yuiki: Age 18  
Dancing Student __  
Likes: Candy  
__Dislikes: Snobby People  
_

_Rima Mashiro: Age 18__  
Music Student__  
Likes: Anything Comedy  
Dislikes: Liars_

_Utau Hoshina: Age 18  
__Music Student__  
Likes: Fashion  
Dislikes: Stupid People_

Amu laughed nervously in spite of herself. _They sure are interesting people_, Amu thought as she headed out of the elevator and entered an empty hallway. Now that she noticed, was she early? After all, Koko had said that classes didn't start for another two days. Hmm…

She walked down the emerald green carpeting until she came to her room. She slid the key into the lock and opened the door. Amu grinned when she found that there was a small sitting room with a small closet on her right side. She walked toward the bedrooms and was relieved to find four beds in the room, three of them already decorated of a comforter. One was of ducks, the other was of cute clown designs, and the last one had music notes all over it with blue in the background. Amu found that the window bed was the only one not decorated on yet. She dropped off her bags at the foot of the bed, where rested a small chest where she could place her clothes inside it. She looked out the window and found that they had a balcony. She was on the second floor and as she looked out, she could see a rather nice view of a nearby lake. She blinked. She wasn't expecting that.

She turned around the survey the room. Four full sized beds were placed around the room, two on each side. Each of them had a dark cherry brown wood of a nightstand with a white lamp on top of it with an alarm clock. One of the nightstands had comedic gag books stacked underneath the drawer of the nightstand, the other had a stuffed duck, and the other one had a basket that was unable to be seen through. There was a wall that separated the bedroom from the rest of the dorm room and Amu walked forward to find what else was in here. To her left was a small sitting room with another LED TV screen of 37 inches. Underneath had a couple of DVD players, but she recognized one of them to be a Blu-Ray DVD player. She grinned. She really applied to the best school ever! There was a glass coffee table and two wing chairs and a loveseat of red with pale green carpeting. She turned around and found herself in a kitchen. There was a monochrome fridge, an under mounted single bowled sink, a microwave, and a toaster. There was loads of cabinet space. There was also a breakfast nook for them to sit and have their breakfast, should they decide to have one.

She walked back to the bedroom and paused, and turned toward the bathroom. Inside, there were two under mounted sinks of white pearl. Three toothbrushes sat in a single cup in the corner of the counter space. Next to the sinks was a door to the toilet and a bathtub that also served as a shower. The bathroom had blue-oceanic tiling with waves on the curtain. As she headed back, she saw a mirror cabinet on the wall, and inside, she found a several perfume bottles as well as lotion and other miscellaneous things girls need to use in the bathroom.

Amu walked back into the bedroom and began to unpack. When she finished, she decided that she'll go and head out and explore the campus, taking the map with her.

She looped the key around her necklace that was around her neck.

When she headed out, she wore a v-neck t-shirt that had a graphic design of a strawberry on a black background. She wore comfortable dancing pants that looked like jeans. She wore her dancing sneakers, never knowing when she might go for a dance should the occasion come up.

Deciding that she ought to go check in at the front office, she headed toward the school lobby. When she got there, she found that the lobby was _beautifully_ decorated. (Really, I'm too lazy to explain the itty-bitty details, so here's a link to follow: .) Along the railings were all sorts of art, paintings, and drawings, that it astounded Amu. There was even a few that were pictures of Dancers and Musicians at their work.

Amu walked into the sleek office: . and found herself amazed. It was so sleek and… clean! Before she even realized she was staring, a nearby office worker looked up and noticed her.

"Ah, new student?" she asked.

Amu nodded.

The lady at the desk chuckled. "Yeah, a lot of students act the way you do before they get used to it. This is the office; would you like me to help you with anything?"

"Um… yeah, I'd like to check in and get my schedule?"

"Name?" the lady asked as she typed on her keyboard.

"Amu Hinamori," she replied. She wondered mildly how many times she was going to have to introduce herself before she gets tired of repeating her name all day.

"Ah, the scholarship student," she chirped, sounding surprised.

"Wait, what?" Amu turned to look sharply at the lady. She didn't remember…

"Ah, it says here that since you were the millionth student to register, everything is now for free! Oh, lucky aren't you?" She paused as her eyes perused a bit more. "Ah, wait, it says that you won a competition to get the scholarship… Huh, you must have been _really_ something if you won a scholarship."

Amu nodded. That sounded about right.

"Printing…" she announced. Then in about a few seconds, she handed Amu her schedule with an envelope thick of pamphlets and information. "The envelope is full of stuff that you'll need to know… or not know whichever is in your case."

Amu nodded before tucking it under her arm. "Thanks."

"No problem and welcome to the Institute of the Artistically Sensational!" she called as Amu left.

"Well, now that I've checked in, let's go check out the dance studios!" Amu mused aloud before her stomach rumbled. "Or… I'll grab a snack before I go dancing." First, she ran back to her dorm room to drop off the papers before heading to the cafeteria.

When she got there, there was only a handful of people there, quietly talking amongst themselves. . After grabbing an energy snack, she sat down and pulled open the map.

As she perused, she noticed that the music studios were on a different part of the grounds from the dance studios, but were practically next door to one another. She also noticed while perusing that the buildings were separate, depending on what kind of student a person was.

Students who studied in music, which were students who sang or played instruments, have their classes in Building A and the students who studied in dance were in Building B and students who studied in anything else art related were in Building C.

After finishing up her small meal, she grabbed her water bottle and headed out to the dance studio. When she got there, she bumped into a brown-orange haired female with two pig-tails.

"Sorry!" Amu gasped. She turned to face the girl she bumped into. She had brown eyes and appeared to be fair skinned with a petite body. She was shorter than Amu was.

"It's okay, I wasn't watching where I was going," she grinned in an apology. She blinked, "Are you new?"

"Yeah, I am," Amu said. "I'm just got here awhile bit ago. I'm Amu Hinamori, a dance student." She held out her hand for a handshake.

"Cool, I'm Yaya Yuiki," she shook her hand.

"Hey, I just met my roommate," Amu said with a grin. Yaya grinned back when she noticed.

"Awesome, so you're the last one?" When Amu nodded, Yaya began to explain about their other roommates. "Rima and Utau are music students, but Rima plays an instrument and Utau sings. I'm the dancing student so I wouldn't see them often… but since you're also one, I'll get to see you more!"

"Oh, right, since Music students go to a different building, right?" Amu asked, making sure.

"Yep, but you can see them during lunch, since we all share the same lunch because we're in the same dorm, you know, Dormitory B." Amu nodded, making sense of the situation.

"Let's go and see your moves, Amu-chi!" she exclaimed as she began to drag Amu along. Mildly, she wondered if that was suddenly a new nickname.

When they entered a studio, Amu fell into awe, again, at the awesomeness of the studio. Along one side of the wall were mirrors that could be shown for the dancers to make sure that they were dancing right. In one corner of the room was another LED TV that hung from the ceiling with a DVD player, VCR player, and anything else needed underneath. It was probably for viewing new moves and such. Along the wall of the mirrors were some railings of different elevations. Amu guessed it helped in stretching and balance the first time. The other side of the wall that was opposite of where Amu faced was also a mirrored wall.

Before she could really look at the room further, Yaya popped in a song and Amu immediately found the beat. It was Gee by Girl's Generation. And since there weren't enough people with them, it was hard to perform all of the moves without looking incomplete. Immediately, Amu felt extremely… girly then. Maybe it was the dance, but by the time she finished, Yaya applauded.

"I hadn't been expecting you to know how to dance to that song!" Yaya complimented. "I just put that on shuffle…"

Amu shrugged. "I just know the song is all and knew how to dance to it is all." Amu grinned but she was beginning to feel the lag from traveling. "Really, now I would rather just go around and explore, if you don't mind."

"Sure, I could show you some places you would like to see," Yaya sang, as she began to walk out the door. Amu turned to follow her after picking up her water bottle.

When she walked outside, she heard music being played from somewhere. She paused to listen and to try and make out the sound of the music. But to no avail. When she looked to find where Yaya went, Amu sighed when she realized she lost her when she had paused to listen to the music. Deciding that it was better than nothing, she began to venture toward the source of the music and found that it came from a dance studio. She peeked in and found that there was a male inside… a very TALL male inside. He had midnight blue hair and a very… as much as she didn't like thinking that way, _nice_ build. She even found herself blushing when she looked him up. And it didn't help matters when she noticed that he was also very handsome.

Great.

He's great looking and…

She jumped when his sapphire eyes looked her way. She muffled a squeak that came from her. However, he already heard her in spite of the music and walked over, opening the door. When he did, Amu could see that he wore a black tank top with loose pants that seemed appropriate to dance in. He wore dancing shoes, making him seem taller than what he would probably be normally.

And dear god, he was _hotter_ up close than she expected. But… something about his face seemed familiar…

"You know, spying isn't a very nice thing to do," he said with a deep, rich voice that Amu found herself thinking of strange thoughts. He smirked and immediately, she felt that she was going to hate that smirk. "Or were you just merely trying to catch a peek at how hot I am?"

"D-Don't flatter yourself!" Amu stuttered, blushing vividly.

"Who said I was?" he merely replied. "Come, if you were curious about the music, than surely, you must be curious about how I dance, right?"

"S-Sure… whatever," she grumbled.

He turned on the stereo and instantly, Amu recognized the song. It was Rainism by Bi Rain. She found it to be one of the greatest dances… not to mention, one of the sexiest songs she's heard.

He smirked, "You're getting a free show, so be happy."

"L-Like I would!" she flushed.

When he began to dance, her mouth dropped. He danced so… so… well that she couldn't even put words to his dance. He danced so perfectly… so wonderfully that she found herself squirming in her seat when she found how seductive his dancing was. It was different from Bi Rain's dancing in the music video, but it was much better… as if he improved it. Even if Amu found that to beat Bi Rain to be almost impossible, this guy proved that you could beat impossible; that it was to be better than impossible.

When he finished, he was breathing evenly, albeit slightly ragged from the serious dancing he just did. She had to admit it… he looked really _sexy_ right now, what with the way he was breathing, the way he was dressed, and the way he looked at Amu… right before he smirked and ruined it.

"So? What'd you think?"

Stubbornly, she crossed her arms across her chest, "I-It was… a-awesome…" She managed to admit it, but she will not say what had crossed her mind about this guy.

"I'd like to know the name of the girl I performed for… what is your name, my lady?" he asked as he bowed, as if he had heard the invisible applause.

She blinked, but she knew he was teasing her. "I'm Amu Hinamori," she huffed, not going to admit that he was a really, really, _really_ good dancer. Not to mention, also very sexy. At the word, she flushed a bit.

"I'm Ikuto Tsukiyomi, it's a pleasure to meet you," he said as leaned close and kissed her.

Right on the lips.

* * *

**Please remember to review please so I can know if I should continue or not! I hoped you enjoyed this bit of my experiment!**


	2. The Key

Please read Author's Note at the end. Disclaimer is at the end as well.

Summary: Ch2: Amu has met Ikuto and on their first meeting, he kissed her! And now, after she met other new friends, she discovers that she's stuck with him as a partner?! What's with this sexual tension that's between them and what's this, a challenge?!Amuto.R&R

* * *

Chapter Two: The Key

His lips weren't what she had been expecting. At all, period. But… she had to admit, it was soft and it tasted of a sport drink that he must have drank earlier to replenish himself. He was an expert kisser, she could feel it. His easy dominance over her as his hands was placed on both sides of her as she sat on the table, caused a delicious shiver to run up her spine. She could feel herself begin to melt in his kiss, finding that she was beginning to lose control of her insides and her fluttering heart.

What drove him to kiss her, he had no idea. Maybe it was her stutters, her stubbornness to admit he was a good dancer, and her admiration for how he had danced earlier made him feel… _different,_ as if he wanted to possess her_._ Maybe it was her lips, or her blushing, or even perhaps her begrudging smile. He knew right away that she was not the same as every other girl he knew at this school… she was _unique _and it only made him want to tease her; to play with her. But… what drove him to kiss this girl, whom he barely knew?

She tasted of strawberry and was so sweet in her kiss. She was timid, unsure, and confused. He could even sense the initial shock disappearing as it began to form into anger. However, before she herself could bite down on his tongue, he pulled away from the kiss.

"H-How dare you?!" she exclaimed, after she recovered from the bite. She glared and tried to punch him, but he effortlessly moved away. He had taken advantage of the situation and of her. How could he?

When he realized he had made a horrible mistake, he instantly felt guilty. Why? He never usually felt this way, especially with a girl. He's done that loads of times and the girls he planted the kiss on never had a problem with it; in fact, they all swooned over him and wanted more. But actually, it was the first time he had ever kissed a girl right on the lips just like the way he had.

Her face was red with disgrace and anger. "You better pay for this, to compensate," she hissed, glaring at him angrily, tears threatening to break free.

He merely shrugged and smirked. "Maybe I will, maybe I won't," he murmured, almost sounding thoughtful.

She glared so forcefully, she could have drilled right through him. If looks could kill, well, Ikuto would have died ten times over just from the sheer hatred in that glare. After what seemed like several minutes, she noticed that he didn't say anything and didn't do anything else. He had stepped away a bit of ways that she noticed there was enough space for her to jump down. Finally, as realization dawned, there was no way she was going to stay in this room further with him, and he seemed that he won't be giving up an apology.

Already, barely already known him, he was already a jerk she vowed to avoid. She jumped off the table, shoving him roughly to the side. "Don't talk to me, to speak to me, don't see me again!" she shrieked as she slammed the door shut behind her. As she stomped to her dorm room, her stomps and anger gradually faded after a few minutes of being away from him. She eventually came to a stop half-way up the stairs and touched her lips where his own had touched. It was still warm from earlier and she could still feel his lips. She blushed but shook it off; she didn't even like him and he dared to kiss her like that! She'll never admit that she liked that kiss. The only thing she wished about the situation that she could change was that he was actually her boyfriend and that he should have apologized.

* * *

The next two days passed quickly, as Amu tried to get used to the start of college life. Then another several days passed and she found herself exhausted. Dance practice was grueling as they were drilling her over the basics of dancing all over again.

When she had gone up to her dorm room after that incident with Ikuto, she found Yaya talking with another female with a black hair band and curly light brown hair. Yaya introduced her as Rima Mashiro. Mildly, Amu noted that this was the girl who loved gag comics. Hhn, one really couldn't judge everything on looks as this girl was far, _far_ away from a girl who looked like someone who loved gag comics. She was really petite and pretty and had this innocent-like beauty that Amu could swear she could already hear rumors about her.

Amu met Utau later. Apparently, she's the daughter of one of the music teachers here, but since he was an instrumental teacher, she didn't see him often. Amu didn't catch the name though.

One night, they decided to talk about family. Of course, this was the night after their first day of school. They had just finished discussing their class schedules and teachers when the subject of family somehow came up.

"I have a little sister, Ami, and a mom, and a dad at home," Amu explained. She pulled out a small picture frame of them and handed it to them.

"Aw, how cute!" Utau gushed as she looked at Ami. "Your sister is so cute, Amu!"

"Oh, let me see, let me see!" Yaya whined, reaching out to grab the frame. When she got a look, she agreed. "Yep, I agree; she's absolutely adorable. However, she's not as cute as my baby brother, Tsubasa."

"Oh?" Rima sounded curious. "I'm an only child, and I really wish I could have a sister or a brother." She shrugged. "But I'm fine, I guess, without really having one… it is a bit lonely though."

"It sounds like it is," Amu nodded. "But it's not all that bad, right?"

Rima nodded. "Yeah, it's not. Especially since I've always had a lot of friends when I was younger."

Amu turned to Utau. "Do you have any siblings?"

Utau opened her mouth before shutting it again. It was as if she was considering in telling them about her family. "I already told you that my father works here, right? Well, so does my mother, but she works as a nurse in the infirmary. And, well I… I have a brother."

"A brother? What's his name?" Yaya asked, curious.

Before Utau could say his name, there was a sharp knock on the door.

"Girls, time for lights out!" Koko called through the door. "So off to bed!"

"Yes!" they replied back and went to bed, getting themselves ready for the events to come.

* * *

A few weeks have gone by since she's last seen Ikuto and mildly, she's wondered if he's even a student here. Then again, he did seem several years older than she was… so perhaps he was in a different class than she was. She stopped herself. Why should she care about that jerk anyway? He stole her first kiss. However, in the midst of all the busy stuff she kept doing, she found a small little gift waiting for her in her dorm room a week into school; all wrapped in a delicate, cute pink ribbon and a pale pink wrapping. Inside, the gift had been a little purple-black cat with golden eyes and a small black collar around his neck. The strange thing is that whenever she was doing something lucky, the cat was with her. Now, as if by habit, she carried the cat around as a good luck charm.

Today was different, Amu noted, as she walked into the dance room. The students were sitting down on the floor, waiting for the teacher to finish talking to someone. Whoever it was, she couldn't see them.

She sat down next to Yaya, who shared the same class as her. "What's going on?" Amu whispered.

"I don't know," she whispered back. "I think… the teachers are collaborating on something…"

Just then, two teachers came forth and began to explain.

"Class, today, we're going to begin a new lesson. As you all know, we're already far into the month of October and you all know how close Christmas is from here," Mrs. Lyke said. She was their dance instructor. For a moment, Amu remembered when she first met the teacher… make that, several of the teachers. There were a lot of people who did not like her being here… namely _some_ teachers…

"And every year here, the dance students get together and perform a routine at the Christmas Eve show; it's been a tradition here for a very long time," said the teacher that Amu didn't know. He appeared very experienced in dancing. He had a slim build, his brown hair tied into a pony tail in the back. He had sparkling brown eyes that seemed to glimmer when he spoke of his passion. He also had a slight scruff around his chin, which he absently stroked as he spoke. "It's also an advertising show as it shows other possible students that they should come to our lovely school." He paused as if in thought and glanced back for a moment before turning back toward them.

"However, we're trying something new this year; we're going to have senior year boys come here and practice the chosen routine with you. We've already decided your partners ahead of time."

Boys began to file in one at a time, surprising Amu when she that there was Ikuto, standing next a brown haired male with green eyes. Before she could say anything to Yaya, the teacher spoke up again.

"Since there are an odd number of people here, some students have volunteered to join us in the odd numbered students we have."

Before Amu casted her glance at the others, she looked over the males of the class. There was a green-black haired male who seemed the oldest, next to Ikuto, who wore glasses. Another was a male with long purple hair that seemed really friendly. He had dark purple eyes and a laugh that seemed to have captured many of the girls up front. Next to him stood a male with blonde hair with hazel-like eyes that seemed to her the ultimate prince. Even though he was slightly shorter than most of the males, he was still very popular with the girls as they began to gossip. Also amongst the group was a male with green hair, a male with dyed purple hair…

However, she felt Yaya poke her hard enough that she pulled her gaze away from them and turned toward where Yaya was pointing at. Amu began to smile as she realized Rima and Utau had been the volunteers and waved them over. They sat down next to them and looked through the crowd. Immediately, Amu noticed a faint blush appear on Rima's face.

"Rima, what's up?" Amu asked softly, to avoid the teacher casting his glance their way.

"There's a guy she likes that's in that group," Yaya whispered back, smothering her giggle. It was a subtle blush but was it was enough to confirm it.

"I-I do not like anyone!" she whisper-yelled. But they already knew; they were going to have to pry it out of her later when they get back to the dorm room. When Amu returned her attention to the teacher, she noticed that Utau was oddly silent.

"All right, when I call up your names, you will be assigned a partner and he or she shall be your partner until the Christmas Show. There will be no trading, and there will be no complaints, got that everyone?"

"Yes!" everyone called out.

"All right, let's see… Yaya Yuiki?"

"Here!" Yaya called out, getting up to walk to the front. She was eager to find out who her partner was going to be.

"Your partner is going to be Kairi Sanjou, I hope you get along," the teacher called.

_Ah_, Amu thought._ So the glasses guy is Kairi, hmm?_

Mildly, she wondered who was going up next. Several other names were called before she heard Utau's name being called.

"Utau Hoshina!" Several people gasped aloud. Apparently, her name was famous here, and Amu remembered why. It was because her singing voice had been the reason why she's at this very college; she was also one of those rare scholarship students as well.

"Here," she replied as she came up and stood up front. Amu noticed the brown haired male whisper something into Ikuto's ear and he only nodded back. For awhile now, he's been trying to capture her gaze since he came in. However, she avoided every chance she got to not look at him. Strange, she was still peeved about the fact that he had kissed her when normally, she would have forgiven most people.

"Your partner is Kukai Souma," the teacher said, looking up to watch Kukai step forth. With a wide grin he looked on.

"Hiya, pleasure to meet you, Idol of the Singing department," he slapped her heartily on the back, of which she returned with much more force.

"It's a pleasure to meet the athlete of the senior's boy's class," Utau said, as if she was restraining her annoyance with a forced smile. They shook hands, and some girls and guys snickered. They could already see the beginning of a relationship blooming.

After they went to sit on the side, there were a few girls left, including Amu herself and Rima. The blonde male, the purple haired guy, and Ikuto was left amongst the really good-looking guys that Amu considered.

"Hmm… Daichi, are you here today?" the teacher called out.

"Yep," he greeted as he came forth. Amu was startled at the similarities between him and Kukai. It was almost shocking except for his vivid green hair that Amu was almost certain that he dyed. Then again… her own hair color wasn't exactly normal either.

"You'll be partnered up with Ran, although, I'm assuming you two already know each other?" the teacher sighed as the girl got up from the front. Immediately, Amu recognized her as one of the really cheerful girls in her class. She was one of the more very energetic girls that seemed to have endless energy. She walked over to Daichi and held him on his arm with a big smile and sat down on the side.

That left five males.

"Rima Mashiro? Come here," she called. Rima got up onto her feet and walked over. A lot of the males whistled at her size and how petite she was before the teacher sent them all a scolding look. Of course, it was toward the boys who made the noise in the first place.

Rima looked shy and said nothing. "Your partner is going to be… Nagihiko Fujisaki."

"It's going to be a pleasure of working with you," Nagihiko said with a slight bow. He was _really_ polite. "And you could just call me Nagi."

Rima huffed softly as she said, "The pleasure's all mine." She shook his hand, and Amu noticed the surprise that appeared on his face at the size of her hand. Then they went over to the side to sit down.

"Tadase Hotori, step forward." The blonde came forth and surprised Amu when she noticed that his eyes came in contact with her own, and she flushed. Ikuto watched the entire exchange and his eyes became darkly blank.

"Your partner is Lara Kristopher," said the voice, and many girls groaned of disappointment. However, many were still very hopeful that they would end up with the best looking of the group: Ikuto.

Amu, herself, was disappointed as well. She wanted to meet Tadase because he had smiled at her when their eyes connected. Whatever fate had left to play, it was going to be cruel because she felt, in some unknown reason that she was going to end up with someone she did not like.

"Amu Hinamori," the teacher called forth and she sighed as she got up to answer to her name.

She walked forth, awaiting her doom. "Ah, well, surprisingly, you're partnered up with Ikuto Tsukiyomi. Consider yourself lucky, you're going to be working with the school's prodigy; be sure to take his advice carefully."

Wait a minute, Ikuto, the jerk, was the school's prodigy?! HOW?! WHEN?! WHY HASN'T SHE HEARD OF THIS BEFORE?! She shot a glare at Yaya's, Utau's, and Rima's direction and they each shrugged in turn. But while she was busy fuming, she didn't hear the sound of annoyance in the teacher's voice…

"It's a pleasure to be working with you." She snapped out of her anger enough to glance at the source of the voice; Ikuto. She hadn't seen him in awhile, so she was still astounded at how _gorgeous_ he was. The way his midnight blue hair was done, the way his half-lidded sapphire hues watched her, and the way he smiled made her heart flutter. However, she quickly buried the fluttery feeling down into the pit of her stomach.

"No, the pleasure is all _mine_," she said through gritted teeth with her voice dripping in sarcasm, remembering her anger from awhile back, her eyebrows furrowed but her lips were smiling. "Jerk." She uttered the last word under her breathe so that only Ikuto would hear. She was pretending to smile for everyone else, who all watched as they headed to the side to sit down with the rest of them.

He grimaced inwardly at the insult. It had been so poisonous…

Yaya poked her from behind, "You know Ikuto? You're so lucky, you get to be tutored by him… he's the best dancer out there!"

Before she could retort something back to her, the teacher clapped her hands. "All right, I'm going to assign you room numbers of a studio here in this building, so that you may begin your individual routines. Also, on the paper is written a routine that the pair of you is each expected to learn. This will also be for a grade, mind you all."

She handed out sheets of paper to each pair, but before she handed the paper to Ikuto, she said quietly, "Ikuto, I expect you to be very thorough in your training. You know the competition is coming up."

"It all depends on her, Mrs.," Ikuto replied with a sort of indifference that caused Amu to be confused. This was Ikuto? It didn't sound like it.

"Let's go, Amu," he smirked as he led her away from the studio. When they left, he withdrew his hand and immediately, Amu noticed _something_ absolutely static about the surroundings around him. What happened in their time apart from each other?

* * *

When they entered the studio, Amu realized that it was the same room where Ikuto had-

"I'm going to be teaching you how to tango, it seems," he smirked, his eyes flashing as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms.

_Dear _god_, kill me now,_ Amu thought breathlessly. He was… so spectacular in the angle he rested in, just like a model. His hair messy, his shirt pulled slightly to the side to reveal more of his shoulder than he probably had intended. His shirt was slightly tight, so it pulled and showed off his muscles in short, yet defined shadows of his form, revealing a broad chest, and probably an even broader back. He also wore loose pants to be comfortable to dance in that revealed his long, lean legs. He wore nothing around his neck and wore a sweat band around his left wrist. His eyes were half-lidded and gracing his lips was a smirk that she felt was characteristic of him.

But Amu wasn't the only one appreciating the view.

Ikuto looked Amu up and down, to find that she dressed in tights along her legs, clearly showing off her slim form and hourglass shape. By god, she had wonderful legs for someone of her size. She wore dancing heels in the typical color of black; after all, it was only practice. She wore a black tank-top and her hair was pulled up into bun, revealing her creamy collar bone, skin, and neck. She had thin arms, but he remembered how hard she could probably hit with those. She wore shorts on top of her tights and appeared well-prepared. Her cheeks had a soft blush and her honey-colored eyes were furrowed in determination.

"Well, then, teach me," she huffed, slightly annoyed. She couldn't believe she admitted that he looked like the hottest thing on the planet right now. Curse her stupid hormones.

"We need to stretch first then," Ikuto pointed out as he began to stretch to get ready to dance.

Amu took small peeks over at Ikuto, finding that he was quite flexible, but not as flexible as a girl was. He was flexible enough, it seems and Amu wondered how he was such an accomplished dancer if he only was able to flex that much. She sighed, deciding to forget the jerk for now, she focused on stretching. Using one of the bars for support, she used to help herself stretch.

When they finished, Ikuto crossed his arm across his chest. "All right, are you ready?" he asked with a raised eye-brow, as if he doubted Amu knew any of the moves.

"Let's just get this over with," she sighed.

"First of all, do you know what the tango is?"

"Uh… It has to do with that the lead is the female, right?" Amu asked, pondering for a moment. She was really _actually_ going to learn about the tango.

"Now, are you able to name several kinds of styles of a tango today?" Ikuto asked, his smirk growing bigger.

Amu frowned. She really _had_ to learn here! Especially from her senior! Surprising.

"No, I can't," Amu said softly, deciding to sit down to continue stretching.

"All right, I'll give you a brief history lesson," Ikuto began.

"There are very many kinds of tango dancing styles out there, such as the Argentine Tango, the Uruguayan Tango, Ballroom tangos, Finnish tango, and of course, the vintage tangos. It began in the middle class of slaves in Buenos Aires in the 1850's to the 1880's in Uruguay and Argentina. It became popular in the 1910's where it went to the upper and lower class alike. This is a brief, brief history, as we're going to learn how to dance the Argentine style Tango."

"Which embrace is it?" Amu conflicted. She was beginning to catch on. Amu made a mental note for herself; she was actually going to read her dancing textbook when she gets back to her dorm room. She had a strange feeling that Ikuto was going to quiz her on this tomorrow. He really felt like a teacher now.

"Very good, and since you're really no beginner at dancing, we're doing closed. Very closed." He smirked. Very closed embrace usually meant that the connection was chest-to-chest and it follows more the traditional styles of the tango.

Amu flushed. She was going to have to dance very close to Ikuto, so close, that their faces were going to be barely touching. But this was dancing, and it was going to feel this way whether she liked it or not. Withstanding the closeness of Ikuto was all for Amu's dream; to become a great dancer.

"Come, I think it's time we begin learning the first few steps," he murmured. His eyes closed half-way, as Amu walked over. He stood upright, holding her hand in his left, and his right on her waist. Amu placed her left arm on Ikuto's right shoulder. She immediately felt her heart pick up several beats as she felt butterflies in her stomach. He began to lead her, murmuring in her ear the names of the steps that she learned quickly. Her face burned, but she kept her concentration; she was going to learn how to dance the tango properly.

The way his hands held her, the way he whispered in her ear as his lips nearly tickled it, and the way he looked so closely into her eyes, made her heart pound so loudly, she was afraid that Ikuto would hear. Her body was practically pressed on to him, and she felt the muscles underneath his shirt ripple. For a moment, she had the image of Ikuto bare in darkness…

She snapped out of it when he whispered another step into her ear. The way he whispered sent another chill up her spine more pleasurably than she had thought it to be. The music picked up… when was there music? He must have put it on just before they started. Despite the closeness that they shared, and how heated that the both of them felt, she was surprisingly calm and absorbing all of the information he was telling her. Of the Molinete, the Media Luna, and the Giro. She could smell his scent on his shirt, feel his muscles underneath her hand, and hear the way his voice sounded.

When they broke as they finished the dance, Amu and Ikuto found themselves in a trance with each other, with such electricity between the two of them that Amu felt her heart race again and her face flush. They were both breathing quite hard, and it wasn't from the dancing. Their eyes had never left each other the entire dance and she was lost in his sapphire eyes and he was lost in her honey colored ones. They were inches from each other's lips when a knock echoed throughout the room, breaking their trance and the tension that they had.

"Y-Yes?" Amu called out, Ikuto went to take a swig from his water bottle before he stared at it a moment before dousing himself with it. Apparently, Ikuto realized that the tension that they were sharing was unwanted sexual tension…

The teacher walked in with her arms crossed. "Ikuto… you were just teaching her, right?" Mrs. Lyke asked slowly. The other teacher walked in with a serious expression on his face. When he came in, several students stood there with their mouths agape. Amu could seriously see her friends among them. She was going to have to kill them later for spying on her.

"Yes, I was, why? Was I teaching her incorrectly?" he asked as he ran his fingers through his now wet hair. Several of the girls nearby squealed in delight at the sight, fanning themselves.

"N-No… it's just that, it's astounding that this girl and you could dance… well… what's the word I'm looking for?" the male teacher contemplated. "Well, so _perfectly._ It was almost as if you were made for each other."

"B-But I was just teaching her," he said surprised.

"H-How did we look?" Amu interrupted the teacher's response. He cleared his throat before continuing to explain.

"Well, when you were dancing, there was such an atmosphere around you two, it was almost… untouchable. You were able to grasp such moves in such a short time, that you're already dancing the tango practically…"

"Of course," Mrs. Lyke intervened. "She has still very much to learn. I'll admit, that her dancing the tango with Mr. Tsukiyomi was very, _very_ well done, but we cannot overlook that she still has very much to learn of the tango. She was only dancing, at best, the minimum of the dance moves of the tango and had it been another person, she would have danced probably even worse than she was just now."

For some reason, Amu felt her anger flare. Was this teacher putting her down of her talent to dance?

Before Amu could retort something bitter, Ikuto held her quiet as he replied indifferently, "Of course, Mrs. Lyke; it's expected of my student that I will teach her all of the required moves for the tango, just in time for the Christmas Show."

"But teaching a new girl now is almost impossible! You only have about two months!" the male teacher exclaimed.

Amu watched as he smirked characteristically, "That's plenty of time, Mr. Shai, you can count on me on that."

* * *

**Author's Note**:  
All right, what'd you think of this chapter? Why do you think Ikuto said, "of my student"? And do you hear the tension mounting? Lol, I'm not sure about you, but I sure do.

Okay, this chapter was… surprisingly difficult to write. I wasn't sure why, but I'm thinking it might have been because I was trying to make sure that everyone was in character. I know that the last chapter had ended with Ikuto kissing her, but I couldn't help it; it had felt as if the situation was… right. I might be stupid or something, but I think that's how Ikuto would do… before he really realized what he was doing. From here on out, there will be tension everywhere. Lol.

**Disclaimer:**  
Shugo Chara and all related characters and elements are the property, copyright and trademark of Peach Pit and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.


	3. The Lock

**Summary**:  
Ch3: Amu begins her vigorous lessons on American Jazz and questions Ikuto being at the school. Then, she discovers that Nagihiko and Kairi are not who they seem to be… Amuto. R&R.

**Author's Note**:  
All right, I've never gone to dance classes or any of that, nor am I planning to attend one; therefore, in what Amu learns in classes may be out of order or different from a regular school. However, if any of you has, please do tell me on what it's like and such so that I can write it more accurately.

Furthermore, this chapter may come as a surprise for you all. Haha, it's a bit of a bomb dropper. I never knew Nagi and Kairi had it in them, but when determined, you'd be pretty surprised, so I've seen in the series. There's going to be a lot drama now, so prepare yourselves. Oh and uh, I'll be stirring up lovely trouble with characters that you'll recognize from the series. I was going to have Musashi come in this chapter as the head honcho behind this, but decided against it. You'll see what I mean when you read further into the chapter. I had a bit of a difficulty figuring out what to write, but found my inspiration. This chapter begins the Kairi, Nagihiko, and Rima arc. I'll try to keep it consistent around 5000 or so words, maybe longer if you guys want it. **So review if you really want more than 5000 words! And please review if you want me to continue.** Look forward to the upcoming chapters!

And of course, enjoy the chapter! Sorry for the delay. :3

**Disclaimer:**  
Shugo Chara and all related characters and elements are the property, copyright and trademark of Peach Pit and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.

* * *

_Chapter Three: The Lock_

"Again, I repeat, it's impossible!" the elder male, Tadase exclaimed.

After the confrontation that Ikuto was going to teach her thoroughly with how to dance the tango enough that it was going to "wow" the teachers, she found herself still ruffled by the insult by the teacher. Amu was NOT a scholarship student for a reason!

And after that, the dancing class had somehow formed little groups among themselves. Tadase, Nagihiko, and Kukai were friends already so they went almost everywhere together. Kairi came over to join them as well, surprising the females. Ikuto would have joined the group but it seemed that he had to leave to do some sort of business. Rima and Yaya joined of course, along with Utau, who was their roommate and she had misplaced her keys so she couldn't go back to her dorms. In the end, she decided that she was going to hang out with them for the rest of the day.

When she had come back from the studio, she was met with a mob of students who all clamored to tell her that it was unfair and that she shouldn't have to face this kind of pressure, least of all from almost all of the teachers. Mr. Shai, the other teacher that had been with Mrs. Lyke, disapproved the idea of putting so much pressure on a student for doing that kind of thing, as this school was noted for the expressive time to learn at the student's pace, not rushed by a deadline. Despite the fact that the classes are focused solely on dancing, or whatever other classes there are, they also have the basic core classes that they are required of to learn to graduate college. But the school focused on whatever major they wanted, namely, art, dance, and music. Everything was supposed to be by the student's pace period.

"Tadase, it's all right, she has Ikuto for a teacher," Kukai soothed. "You know how good of a dancer he is, especially when he's teaching it."

"Well, he teaches_ that_ kind of stuff well, not dancing," Tadase huffed. He sat down roughly at the table, fuming… but really, from the look on his face, it just looked like he was frowning… ish…

"E-Excuse me?" Kukai exclaimed. He began to laugh. "He's far from that, although it is true that he's been around several women though, but he never finds himself serious though."

"Kukai, I don't think this is a time to laugh," Utau frowned as she watched him trying to smother another burst of laughter.

He shrugged before he was going to comment, but Tadase interrupted again.

"Amu, are you going to be able to learn that much in such a short time?" Tadase asked, turning his way toward her.

She sighed and smiled weakly. "It doesn't hurt to give it a try," she said. "And besides, he could always teach me during weekends and in between classes, right?"

Kukai, Tadase, and Utau looked at one another for a moment. Kairi pushed up his glasses, "I'm afraid that'd be difficult, regarding Mr. Tsukiyomi."

"Wait, mister?" Rima asked. "Ikuto is a teacher?"

Amu had been mildly wondering about this. He spoke as if she was his personal student and that he had an air of authority that the other teachers seemed to also possess.

"Eh… well, I guess you could say that," Nagihiko explained. "He already graduated, but I don't know why he's still here. He participates in the lessons and dance sessions and even helps us out during classes. Kukai, isn't Ikuto taking the music course, too?"

Kukai looked thoughtful for a moment. Kairi was the one who answered, "So the rumors go. No one actually sees him in the music course, or even the building. The only place that everyone sees him is in the dance building."

Amu was getting more and more confused. What is Ikuto still doing here? What is his position here at the school, if he already graduated? Is he a teacher or a student retaking his courses?

"I really don't think we should be really nosy about someone else's business," Rima commented, crossing her arms across her chest.

Kukai shrugged along with Utau. Kairi merely glanced away and Tadase mumbled, "He's too suspicious to be still here."

Everyone decided to ignore that comment and continue about their lunch, getting to know each other a bit more.

But to Amu, something felt really off about everything… as if it was the beginning of something that she could not yet comprehend.

* * *

When she had gone up to bed that night, she found another box waiting for her, in the same wrapping. Inside, was a key with a four leaves of a heart shape. The small handle appeared to be real diamond with golden paint. She shined it in the light of the lamp, watching as it glittered prettily across the room.

In the morning, she found another box with the same wrapping, but this time, she found a little attachment to the package. The only thing written on it were what looked like initials of a "J" and "T" put together to make one letter. Whoever wrote the letter had lovely calligraphy.

Inside this package, was a lock of the same design as the key. Intrigued, she looked for the key she had received last night. She had showed the key to her roommates, and all of them were amused and in awe of the glittering object. However, she couldn't find it. How could it disappear when she had clearly saw it last night? Then again, who is the person who was able to come into their room and leave the lovely package in the first place?

Thinking that it was a thief, she jumped out of bed and went to check that she still had everything. Amu sighed of relief when she found nothing was missing. Realizing that she was going to be late for class, she quickly got ready and left the room, following after Yaya. Utau and Rima had left a bit earlier as their building was a bit further away than theirs.

At the beginning of class, their first period teacher, Miss Azure, was shining. She had a blush on her face and her pale blonde hair was tied neatly into a bun on the back of her head. Her dark blue eyes contrasted her delicate features, making her appear to be like a doll when she clapped her hands together.

Before she could begin her short lecture, a student raised their hand as they spoke, "Miss Azure, you're glowing today; why?"

"Oh?" she blushed. The females of the class giggled. The males sighed as if it was stupid to ask, but their eyes could not hide the glimmer of curiosity. "I am?"

"You're radiating like the sun," Yaya commented. Amu smiled and gently nudged her in the side.

"Oh… well, I'm engaged," she said cheerfully. There was even joy in her voice as everyone's eyes darted to her ring finger. True to her word, there was a lovely, elegant small diamond ring. It was thin, but it appeared sturdy on her long fingers.

"Congrats!" "Congratulations!" "WOW, to who?" "Who is the lucky guy?" "I'm so happy for you!"

Many words continued to sound like that at once, overwhelming Miss Azure. She slammed her book against the railing with a loud bang, silencing everyone at once.

"Thank you everyone, for your words. And as to who it is, well, you'll have to figure it out on your own," she teased, smiling. Everyone groaned as Miss Azure giggled. "All right, since I'm not going to answer anymore about this, let's continue with class."

Everyone agreed.

"All right, today… oh, we're learning Jazz." She blinked, as if almost surprised before she continued. "All right, can any one of you tell me where Jazz originated from or better yet, the one who started it?"

When no one answered as Amu looked around as to who might know the answer, she slowly raised her hand.

"Yes, Amu?"

"Um… was it… Jack Cole?" Amu guessed. She remembered the name from somewhere. She had read almost the entire text book last night, after remembering the embarrassment with Ikuto.

"Very good," Miss Azure confirmed. "He's considered the father of Jazz and had developed the moves that are in today's musicals, films, and television commercials and videos. The style emphasized isolations, rapid directional changes, angled placement, and long knee slides. Now, can any of you dance like that?"

Only a small few did but one exclaimed, "Wasn't that the era of Marilyn Monroe? She danced Jazz, didn't she?"

"Good job! I didn't expect you to know that, but yes, she did. Now watch this little introduction as to Jack Cole and the American Jazz." She plucked up a TV remote, and hit a button. A screen came down from the ceiling and a video started to play. (The link is on my profile and if you can't view it, hopefully, I'll have a download link somewhere up on it soon.)

"Now, I'll be giving you each a sheet of paper with several different kinds of jazz steps that you can try out. On it is also the attire I want you to wear next class, and you'll be graded on whether you have it or not. Now, have fun." She pressed a button on the stereo and jazz music began to play.

For the rest of the class, Amu and Yaya tried out several of the dances written on the paper. She realized that jazz dancing was very tiring and that she should have probably eaten more for breakfast. By the end of the class, everyone was thoroughly exhausted.

"All right, wonderful, everyone had excellent form, for first-timers," Miss Azure complimented, applauding. "But you all realize now that it's very exhausting, yes? Well, be sure to eat a hardy breakfast tomorrow because I'll be teaching you a routine that will need lots, and lots of energy, understand everyone?"

Everyone groaned an answer as Miss Azure then said, "All right, for homework, I want you to read chapter 1 of the Jazz section and answer the questions at the end. There's only two or three so it shouldn't be that hard; class dismissed!"

Yaya and Amu trudged out of the dance studio and collapsed in their dormitory lobby. "Ugh, I can't move my legs!" Yaya whined.

"Your legs? I can't move my body!" Amu groaned. "This was harsher than relearning all of the basics of everything. Miss Azure kept coming over and showing us how it's done, and every time we did it, I felt more of my energy disappearing."

"No, really?" Yaya said sarcastically. "Ugh… I'm so tired… and I have those lessons with Kairi later today."

Amu groaned again. She just remembered her and Ikuto's planned lesson for the day. After that, Ikuto wouldn't be free until Sunday, four days from now. It was only Wednesday, but suddenly, Amu felt like the week suddenly was going to be longer than usual.

"I really don't want to remember… I don't want to go to Ikuto's dance lesson," Amu muttered. "He teaches so… so…"

"Well?" Yaya finished for her. "I heard he's an excellent teacher, especially when it's one-on-one."

"He teaches more than one person?" Amu asked, blinking.

"Eh… no… I don't think so, but that's what I've heard."

"Why are there so many rumors surrounding Ikuto? Why hasn't it been cleared up?"

Yaya shrugged. "Ikuto has been so busy and always been shrouded in mystery, that no one really knows why. The closest people that are really good friends with him, I heard, are Kukai, Tadase, Utau, and a guy named Yoru."

Amu hadn't met Yoru before and mildly, she wondered who he was.

"At least, that's what I've heard from Kukai." Yaya got up as she grunted. "Let's go get some lunch, I'm hungry… despite the pain in my body." She winced as she began to walk toward the cafeteria.

Before Amu went to follow after Yaya, she stopped by Koko's office.

"Oh, Amu, how are you adjusting to dorm life?" Koko asked as her head flicked up from her paper work.

"Good, thanks, and it's wonderful here," Amu admitted. She paused a moment as Koko's eyes wandered to her work on the computer. "I've been wondering, have you been dropping off little packages in my room?"

"Hmm… I have, yes," Koko nodded. "I got them on my desk with a typed letter saying that this is to go to your room at this certain time. I don't know about the time, so I completely disregarded it and just placed it in your room when I felt were the right times. The packages come at different times so when I give them to you will vary."

"You mean… you're going to be expecting more to give to me?"

Koko nodded again. "It seems like this person is an admirer of yours, which is why I think there's going to be more."

Amu looked at the ground, confused. Who is sending her the gifts? Why are they sending them?

Before she could muse anymore, her phone vibrated and Amu excused herself from Koko's office, heading to the cafeteria.

"Amu, where'd you go?" Yaya said as Amu flicked open her phone.

"Yeah, hi to you too," Amu sighed. She pushed through the doors and found Yaya at the far end of the cafeteria with three other people. "I'm coming, so I'll talk to you when I get there."

She hung up as she heard Yaya's "bye" and got some food before walking over to the table. Yaya was sitting next to Kairi, he was next to Tadase, and Nagihiko sat on the other side of the table. Amu sat down next to Nagi and greeted everyone.

"Where's everybody else?" Amu asked as she began to nibble on her sandwich.

"Kukai is off somewhere, I don't know," Tadase explained. "And everyone else had something else to do so they took their lunch and went elsewhere."

"Ah, okay." Amu continued eating her lunch as she listened in on their conversation. Kairi and Yaya were talking about their dance routine and their lessons.

"Amu, is that all you're going to eat?" Tadase asked after a short pause in their conversation. Yaya and Kairi seemed to be very intent on their own conversation. Nagi looked over and blinked.

"Really, is that all?" Nagi looked at her with concern.

Amu nodded. "This sandwich is huge, if you haven't noticed, and this kind of fruit juice is good for me. Anything else and I think I'll puke when I go dancing later."

Nagi chuckled and Tadase nodded. "I suppose you're right," Tadase thought. "Then, what classes do you have after this?"

"Hmm… my core classes," she said. "I don't see you guys anywhere else besides that time yesterday, right?"

"Pretty much," Nagi confessed. "We don't see the freshmen unless we're helping out in their classes. Seniors and freshmen pretty much have a very different schedule to follow."

"That sucks," Amu sipped some of her juice. "It'd be fun if I had you guys in more of my classes."

"That would have been very fun," Tadase agreed. Amu turned to glance at him from looking thoughtfully at the sky outside. She blinked when she realized that he was, in fact, _very _princely. "I'm certain I would have liked to talk with you more."

"Well, there's always the time between classes and lunch and after school," Nagi pointed out. "I see plenty of other opportunities to hang out with each other despite the differences in schedules." He took a bite out of his almost-completely-eaten sandwich.

At that, there was a strange comment that came from Yaya that made everyone else laugh.

"Well, I don't want to be the little person in the story!"

They blinked before bursting out in laughter. Yaya blinked, confused. The sentence had been so out of place with what they were talking about, that it only made Nagi, Tadase, and Amu laugh. Even Kairi had a bit of a difficulty hiding his amusement.

"What? What'd I say wrong?" Yaya asked, confused.

But they only continued to laugh.

* * *

Amu came to the same studio that she and Ikuto had practiced in the day before. She found him sitting in the middle of the room, staring off into what may be seen as off into nowhere. She found herself watching him as he remained unmoved by any sounds nearby. She realized that his eyes had closed and that his breathing was slow and very rhythmic. The room was bright with sunshine from the afternoon with a stereo nearby… wait a minute, it was on timer!

She crept into the room silently and sat down as noiselessly as she could as she waited until the silence disappeared. Suddenly, she was aware of a ticking sound that began to come louder, and louder. And then, the sound was cut off before music tore through the studio. In a flash, she watched in fascination as Ikuto's cape or cloak that he wore was then torn off with a swish and he began to dancing rapidly to a beat that Amu could not keep up with. It was as if, he had been so completely in tune with the music that he didn't realize that he had an audience so Amu got to watch as Ikuto danced his heart out. The music was fast, rock, and was mixed with techno. It slowed enough with only the singing going on. He moved in tune with the singing before he rapidly changed back into the dance routine to follow the beat of the music. She could see the sweat glisten off his body as he turned and rotated sharply. She could even see his punches into the air as he coordinated it into the song, like boxing. Sadly, Amu didn't know the title of this song to pin point what song it was. It sounded new to her.

She watched as Ikuto came to the near end and his dancing suddenly halted at the very end of the song. That was when she finally caught a glimpse of what he was wearing. He wore a black tank top with tight black dancing pants. He was barefoot but wore foot braces. Suddenly, Amu wondered if he was a martial artist as well because it seemed that in this dance, he was fighting but dancing at the same time.

He wore black finger-less gloves with an opening on the top of his hands. She could see the well-toned muscles of his flex as he tried to calm himself down from the rapid dancing. She noticed that his eyes flashed a dangerous glimmering blue, like it flared with energy.

"How long have you been there?" he asked his voice husky and rough from dancing. His voice sent a chill up her spine that was again, pleasurable in ways she could not describe.

"L-Long enough," she managed to retort. She couldn't deny how absolutely god-like he looked right then. His eyes slightly narrowed, his eyes still gleaming the way it was, and the way his muscles flexed when he moved. He picked up a sports drink and began to drink from it before picking up a water bottle and dousing himself. He put them down and picked up a towel from a nearby chair and wrapped it around himself.

"Then, I'm assuming you're ready for today's lesson?" he asked, his voice smooth now that he had some liquids.

"What was that song that you were dancing to?" she queried, looking up at the tall male and avoiding answering his question.

"Rule by Ayumi Hamasaki," he replied. "Unlike you, I actually answered the question directed at me."

She tried to smack him, but he effortlessly evaded the hit.

"W-Well, I'm ready," she snapped. She couldn't believe that she actually thought him brilliantly hands-

"All right then, let us begin," he said, interrupting her thoughts as he grabbed her hands and placed them into the right position. "Ah, only October, and your hands are freezing."

She flushed a brilliant shade of a cherry. Before she could even retort, she felt her entire body warming up as they again began to commence in the dancing of a tango. As if it read Ikuto's mind, tango music began to fill the air, compelling Amu to learn rapidly.

What surprised her was when Ikuto began to ask her questions about the Argentine Tango. "What beat is the Argentine Tango based on?"

"Two strong beats on four," she answered almost instantaneously. She needed to know the beat; otherwise it'd be rather difficult to dance the tango.

"What does the Argentine Tango rely heavily on?"

"Improvisation." Amu had never felt so glad to read over the text book the night before so thoroughly.

"What are the basic steps in the Argentine Tango for new dancers to learn?"

She paused a moment. Was there "basic steps"? "That doesn't make sense," she answered, following the rhythm as she thought out her answer. "Because the Argentine Tango doesn't have any of that, while they may have certain patterns to follow, they have no basic steps."

"Correct." He smirked as he continued to teach her. "In the Disney movie, Another Cinderella Story, what dance did the main characters dance?"

"T-The… tango?" she wasn't sure about this one for it was not in the text book.

"Correct." Amu suddenly felt with a dawning realization that he might ask questions that was outside of the only textbook that she has a guide of. "What are two dances that are related to the tango?"

"Um… Vals or the waltz, and the… the… Milonga?"

"Correct," he replied, smirking as he began to pick up the pace than what they were at earlier. "You have passed the quiz for today. Your reward for today is for me to drill into your mind every single dance move that they have in the tango."

She paled at the idea but silently obeyed and began to learn… roughly. However, just when she thought she was going to collapse from exhaustion, she always seemed to feel Ikuto's strong arms support her and he would call a break when they seemed to need it the most.

Her face occasionally brushed against Ikuto's face, or more accurately, his lips. Most especially when it was behind her ear and near her neck; it had sent delicious waves of something throughout her body that caused her to blush.

She felt the lean muscles in his chest flex, as if to support her. She felt so light on her feet with him supporting her as well as guiding her to learning the right moves.

They danced vigorously for the next two hours teaching and learning the tango dance moves. If Amu didn't understand something, he would only say that it was homework that she ought to practice in her free time and then move on to the next dance move. By the end, she was completely drained, even worse than it was earlier in the day while learning American Jazz. Before Amu could ask Ikuto, he pulled out a bucket filled with ice and water, picked her up and placed her feet into it. She winced but relaxed as the pulsing of her feet began to subside. She watched as he did the same. She placed her hand into the water and pulled out some ice and water over her knees, soothing her sore legs.

"So tired…" she mumbled. And hungry, she noted mildly as her hand ran over her stomach.

"That's what dancing does to you," Ikuto commented. His breathing seemed a bit ragged still and Amu wondered why. It was true, that they were sitting rather close to each other as they shared the large bucket. She looked up at her male partner and realized that his face was rather close to her own. She flushed instantly.

He smirked and picked out a stray ice cube and pressed it to her cheek, causing her to flinch upon the cold contact.

"What, being close to me had your heart racing?"

"N-No! What the heck are you talking about?" she snapped. She pulled away from the ice cube that was in Ikuto's hand that was pressed against her cheek.

He only smirked, reveling in her stubbornness and embarrassment to admit anything. She was trying to be cool and… what was it, spicy? Yes, that is about right; cool and spicy. "It's all right to admit some truth once in awhile, Amu."

"I-I d-don't know what you're t-talking about," she stuttered, avoiding his gaze and he only chuckled.

He picked up a towel and placed it over her head, covering her face. "Here, use this to dry your sweat off."

She complied, merely because he was right and she ought to. Immediately, her body tensed and she could feel his body heat. When she peeked through the towel by putting it slightly out of the way of her face, she found him leaning over, using the chilled water over his legs. She could see the sweat roll off him as he wiped it away with his towel… and she flinched.

Okay, she was now officially weirded out. Despite the sweat that was between the two of them, knowing full well that he ought to stink, he didn't… in fact, he smelled really, _really_ good. Instantly, she knew she was screwed over.

Quickly drying up her legs, she said thanks for the lesson and said that she'll be practicing on her own time until next time and then ran off. Her head spun and her mind was muddled with his scent. Why did he smell so good to her? Why was she so…?

Before she could think anymore, she stopped short of jogging when she heard two voices nearby, whispering quietly.

"I'm telling you, trying to find out like this is a bad idea," one of the voices whispered. The voice sounded familiar…

"Well, it's this or that other idea that you came up with," the other voice growled. Quietly, Amu followed the voices, feeling a strange nagging feeling that she knew who these voices belonged to.

"The other idea, I think was much better," the first voice murmured.

She found a pair hidden in the shadow of the hall, but she recognized their frames.

"Nagi? Kairi? What are you guys doing?" Amu asked.

Instantly, her mouth was covered by Nagi and was being dragged off by the pair of them into a studio that was currently undergoing construction. She wondered momentarily if they were assassins or something…

Kairi taped her mouth, to keep her silent and tied her quickly against a pole nearby.

"What should we do with her, now that she found us out?" Nagi asked carefully, his eyes watching Amu warily.

Amu felt scared… but… for some reason, not entirely…

"Should we tell her or no? She appears trustworthy."

"Well, we're not exactly…" Nagi stopped speculating. "She's our age… it's not like she can really do anything on her own… somewhat."

Amu felt so confused. What on earth were they talking about?

"But we could use her, after all, she's the partner assigned with Ikuto."

Wait a minute, Ikuto?! What does Ikuto have to do with this?

"True, but he's not entirely the person we're after, now are we?" Nagi seemed thoughtful. "But you're right, but I really doubt that she can be of help to us. The person that probably can help is… well, _him_, but he already is helping us. Maybe we could ask… her to help us out."

Kairi nodded.

What the heck was going on?! Who the heck are Kairi and Nagihiko?! Are these the same classmates she had met yesterday?

"Ah, she's really confused," Kairi noted.

"Of course she would be; our conversation doesn't make sense to that of an outsider, right?"

"True." Kairi knelt down by her and pulled out a knife. Frozen stiff from fear, she heard his words and began to relax again, "We're going to let you go, but you must hear our story and do not run and you are not to tell anyone else of this, least you'll probably be in danger yourself."

Amu nodded. He slashed through the rope and instantaneously snapped off the tape across her mouth. She withheld her pain from the tape and rubbed her mouth before asking quietly, "What's going on? What does what you're doing have to do with Ikuto?"

For some reason, she suddenly felt really worried.

"Whatever we're going to say to you is confidential and it does not leave this room as soon as we leave, understand? If you do, then you and your friends might become in danger because of this information."

Amu nodded again, "I promise not tell anyone."

"All right," Nagihiko began, sighing. "I can't believe we have to do this…" He groaned before starting.

"Have you heard of anyone named Gozen?"


	4. The Bracelet

**Summary**:  
As Amu learns of Gozen and Easter, confusion sets in so deeply that she wonders what the key and lock really have to do with anything. Then Amu hears rumors that are about Rima… And as she tries to confront Ikuto about his problems, it's hidden behind a mask… what will she do? Amuto. R&R.

**Author's Note:**  
HAHA! Here's your update! I wrote as fast as I could with this chapter and wanted to stop several words shorter but it just kept coming. I didn't know exactly how to stop. But I finally did at… 6766 words. Dang. xD Again, if any of the characters are OOC'ed, please tell me.

And oh, question, are you actually learning about the tango? ;) And now, whenever Amu is learning a particular dance from Ikuto (keeping it Amuto, of course -heart-), I'll make it into the arcs that the story is going through. Right now, we're in the Tango Arc, which basically consists of Rima's, Nagi's, and Kairi's arcs. Sorry if you really wanted to find out more about Ikuto right away, but for now, I really want to develop everyone else first so you know where they're all coming from. Yes, you may find out some stuff of Ikuto in this chapter, but really, it's nothing to what Tadase and Utau are going to say. ;) So until then, continue to be confused just like Amu until the "last" arc I have in store for you.

However, I'll give a look for what's in store for the arcs; see if you can figure out which characters belong in which arc: Tango Arc, Modern Arc, Waltz Arc, and finally, the Hip-hop Arc.

And again, no one had beta-read this so I hope it's all grammatically correct. If you find any errors, again please PM them to me or just review about it. Please and thank you~ Read and review please~

&&Enjoy the chapter~

**Disclaimer:**  
Shugo Chara and all related characters and elements are the property, copyright and trademark of Peach Pit and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.

* * *

_Chapter Four: The Silver Bracelet ; Tango Part 4_

"G-Gozen?" Amu repeated.

"Yes, Gozen, heard of him?" Nagihiko verified.

"Not that I'm aware of, no…" She wasn't sure, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she felt like she had heard the name before…

"Perhaps we should start at the beginning, eh?" Nagi said, his eyes looking toward Kairi.

He nodded before beginning to tell the story. "Perhaps we should bring this to a better location… it'd be rather uncomfortable to do it here…"

"No, it's fine…" Amu lied. She was rubbing her sore wrists, unsure of how to proceed. Yes, she wanted to go to another room and get comfortable and listen to the reasons, but… she felt that if she were to leave here and find out more, she wouldn't be able to. Or so she felt.

Nagi and Kairi raised an eyebrow before Kairi decided to continue as Nagi walked over to a chair and pulled it over. He gestured for her to sit and she did before Kairi began.

"Gozen is the leader of an organization called Easter, more or less, the boss."

"And…?" Amu was confused; what did this organization have to do with Ikuto?

"Hold on. My sister works for the company, as do some other students here; however, they're after one thing and one thing only."

"And that is the missing artifacts of a Jeweled Key and Lock," Nagi finished.

Amu paled significantly. She had the lock right around her neck at this current moment, hidden underneath her shirt and towel. Luckily, it was dark enough that they didn't see her reaction.

"And… what are the key and lock supposed to do? Why are they so important?"

"Because it is said that the one who puts the key into the lock will have his or her wish granted, no matter what kind it is. Of course, this is a myth and no one really knows for sure if it's true." Nagi seemed contemplative.

"My sister works for Easter, as I said earlier, so it makes it more difficult for me to really try to tell her to not work for them anymore… and they use underhanded methods to try to obtain what they want. Ah, also, have you heard of what's going on with the school?" Kairi looked at her with a subtle look of something similar to: "I should expect you to know."

"Of course," she said, her eyes narrowing. "The rumors that were going around that some other organization were going to… buy…"

She stopped talking; finally realizing that Easter wants to buy the school.

"Why? What does Easter want with the school?"

Kairi pushed up his glasses before continuing. "Because it houses fugitives running from Easter," he said simply.

"Wha-?"

"Ikuto is running from Easter," Nagi told her. "He was said to have discovered the key and lock before he hid them and ran away. And what's more, it's said that he also knows the location of Aruto Tsukiyomi."

"Aru… to…? You mean his father?" Amu was confused. This was getting more and more confusing. What were they trying to say?

Kairi sighed, "You're making her even more confused than we had started out."

"Sorry," Nagi said apologetic. "Then you tell her the rest."

Kairi nodded before he resumed, "Aruto Tsukiyomi was the one who had originally discovered the artifacts of the key and lock; therefore, he's wanted to know for the secrets of the lock and key. It's said that he gave the key and lock to his son. But soon after he did, he went missing a couple years ago before Easter could get a hold of him. So the story goes anyway regarding his father.

"Ikuto Tsukiyomi was said to be of important significance because he works for Easter after Aruto disappeared."

Amu froze. Wait a minute, he works for Easter? What the- But… He doesn't seem…

"Yes, he works for Easter, but he's completely rebellious against it. His mother had fallen ill and married someone in Easter, who was said to be Gozen's right hand man. There are rumors, however, that the marriage isn't true. Even Ikuto himself at the school has many kinds of rumors surrounding him and no one can verify them nor make sense of them.

"Ikuto had run away recently because he was tired of being played and ordered around like a dog. The only reason why he really stayed was for his mother. Sadly, even his sister is working for Easter, but it's for different reasons."

"His sister? Who's his sister?" Amu asked.

"Quiet!" Nagi suddenly hissed, instantly grabbing them and pulling them to the side of the room behind some material used for the construction.

Amu held her breath when she realized that someone was checking on the construction site. A flashlight shone in and the door clicked open. The guard looked around for a moment in the dark room before turning back around, muttering, "I could have sworn I heard someone in here…"

The door clicked shut and they filed out of their hiding places. "We'll have to tell you the rest of this tomorrow or some other time," Kairi noted quietly. "In the meantime, we've got to get going."

Nagi smiled weakly before running off with Kairi and she watched as they disappeared around the corner.

As she headed back to her dorm room, she had forgotten the soreness of her body and her mind was filled with questions and confusion.

Why was Ikuto involved with such an organization? Why had his mother given in and "married" the man in Easter? Where had his father gone? Why was Gozen after such items when they clearly aren't truly real in regard to working that way?

She looked down at the lock which she had pulled out from underneath the towel. How did this little tiny bit of jewelry possess such great power?

When she entered the dorm room, Utau was the only one awake, reading while the other two was sound asleep. Utau looked up upon her entrance and smiled before returning back to her book. For a moment, Amu didn't recognize the book and realized that it didn't look like any of the school text books here.

"Utau… what are you reading?" Amu asked, curious as she went to her chest that sat at the food of her bed. She went through her clean set of sleeping clothes before Utau answered.

"A book."

Amu looked up at Utau skeptically. "What kind of book?"

"A business book."

Amu frowned. Was Utau always this cryptic? "For what kind of business?"

Utau finally looked up from her book to look over at Amu with an expression that Amu found herself almost shivering. "It's none of your business what kind of book I'm reading, now is it?"

"I was just asking, because it seems like you're boring a hole into the book," Amu pointed out before closing her chest and sitting on it.

Utau remained silent for a moment before she spoke up again, "Amu, what I decide to read or not is none of your business so you don't need to worry about it. By the way, where's your lock and key?"

Amu left her face passive, unsure of how to continue. Did Utau work for Easter?

"I put it away somewhere, why?"

"Oh, just wondering."

_There's always a reason behind every 'just wondering' statement,_ Amu thought with a smile, but her eyebrows were narrowed. Was she always this… this… uptight?

"I'm going to sleep; good night, Amu," Utau said as she turned off her light and went to sleep.

Amu sighed before heading into the shower.

* * *

In the morning, when she went to check the mail from her family, she found the same wrapped up box there. That's strange, usually it'd be in her room, but today it managed to find its way to her mailbox?

With the same signature as before, she opened the box to find a silver bracelet that was for charms to hook onto. Mildly amused, she lifted it out of the box to shine it in the light and realized that she had no charms to put it on. It was beautiful and from the color of the silver, it was a real one. Mildly, she felt like she couldn't wear such an expensive bracelet so she put it back into the box and into her bag before she headed off to class.

After the dancing exercises from Miss Azure (of which no one in the class has figured out who she was engaged to yet), Amu felt surprisingly lighter than she had earlier this morning. After the exchange with Utau, she realized that she hadn't seen her that often since last night and wondered mildly where she had been going.

Nor had she seen Ikuto around the school campus either. Tadase was often with her to hang out, but sometimes, when her mind wandered off, she wondered what he was doing. He was true to his word; he'd been so busy that wherever she went to ask about him, he had already either left or had left within seconds of her going there. It was as if he was being evasive of her and avoiding her at all costs. Why? What for?

"Amu…?"

Amu snapped out of her reverie to find herself looking at Tadase, who looked concerned.

"Are you all right? You were spaced out for awhile," he asked, worry etched into his face.

"I-I'm fine, just tired from all that dancing is all," Amu said with a smile. "Thanks for worrying about me though."

"No problem," he said as he stirred the soup in front of him with a spoon. They were at lunch in the cafeteria, waiting for Kukai, who had finally decided to show up after three days of no contact with Amu.

"Tadase, how are you and your partner holding up with practice?" Amu asked as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

Tadase appeared thoughtful. "She enjoys learning from me, that's certain, but… I guess it's all right." He shrugged before taking a sip of soup and drank it empty. Mildly, Amu noted the prince-like quality that he had that he even had while eating. From the past few days of hanging out with Tadase, she learned that he was very modest and very considerate toward her. Grudgingly, she wondered why Ikuto wasn't like that.

"She's easy to teach though, right?"

He nodded before finishing the soup. It seemed that he had been eating ramen just moments before. "She's all right to teach, aside from the slight clumsiness that she has; she's pretty good." He got up to throw out the trash and excused himself.

Out of the window, she saw Nagihiko and Kairi walking together toward the studios again. She's seen this for the past several days when she ate lunch. After that conversation that night, she had been unable to talk to them, remembering that they were seniors and they rarely had time other than their lunch hour to be free. Tadase was kind enough to have lunch with her, but everyone else had disappeared with their work and practices for the Christmas Show.

"AMU!" Amu gasped in surprise when someone hugged her from behind.

"WH-WHO…?!" Amu turned around and discovered that it was Yaya. Relief flooded her and she smiled at her friend whom she felt like she hadn't seen in such a long time. "How are you? I haven't seen you in like three days!"

It was Saturday and they were enjoying their day off. Yaya had gotten taken out of the classes that they shared for something important, but Amu heard that Yaya will be back in the same classes as herself soon, starting Monday. However, tomorrow, she was going to have to see Ikuto again and put up with his smirk and his teasing to no end.

"I've been great!" Yaya said with great enthusiasm. "Kairi has been a great teacher, despite how he keeps treating me like I'm five…"

Amu stifled a laugh as she said, "Well, you do act pretty immature when it comes to things like that."

"I do not," Yaya huffed, sitting down next to her. She turned to Tadase, "Hiya Tadase, how are you?"

"I'm great, thanks, and you?" he asked as he smiled.

"Awesome," Yaya said as her eyes darted to the door and jumped up in glee when she saw who it was and ran toward the unsuspecting glompee.

"KUKAI!" she exclaimed as she glomped him, causing him to teeter for a moment before holding himself steady.

"Whoa, I totally did not expect that!" he exclaimed with a laugh before walking over. He sat down next to Tadase and Yaya back in her original seat.

"How are ya, Amu? Doing all right?" he greeted with a grin. Toward Tadase, he just grinned wide before turning back to Amu. For a moment, she wondered what was in that grin that caused Tadase to look slightly embarrassed.

"I'm great, thanks Kukai, how are you though? We haven't seen you in awhile and… you and Yaya seemed to have gotten close," Amu pointed out.

"Well, whenever classes finish, we're right across the hall so we always hang out after class," Kukai explained as Yaya ate her lunch.

Yaya nodded before turning toward Tadase and asking a rather confusing question, "So, how's _that_ going?"

It sounded so… mischievous and Amu wondered what it had meant.

Tadase turned an embarrassed red and said, "N-Nothing is going on, all right?"

"What? What's going on?" Feeling rather confused, but feeling embarrassed for no reason at all, she looked at Tadase and blushed when their eyes made contact.

She felt her heart flutter and wondered why. But… she noticed that it wasn't exactly the same as…

"Amu, how's practice going for you… oh wait, never mind," Kukai stopped. "I just remembered Ikuto is always busy."

"Kukai, I don't understand how you can hang out with him," Tadase said with a tone in his voice that Amu couldn't recognize.

Kukai looked at his friend as he answered, "Because he's a good guy once you get to know him. Perhaps you should give it a try."

He didn't say anything and Amu tilted her head slightly when she realized there was… something in his eyes that caused her to feel slightly afraid. It was as if Tadase hated Ikuto… if so, why?

"Ah, I've got to get going," Yaya said suddenly, as if she remembered something very important.

Surprised, Kukai looked at her with a question on his face, "What's up?"

"Kairi!" she exclaimed as she finished up lunch and then ran away shouting her good-byes and laters.

The name suddenly caused Amu to remember Nagihiko and Kairi and their conversation a few nights ago. She really wanted to ask who it was that was also helping them. They had said it was a "he", but who was it?

Kukai got up and finished his sandwich in one bite, "I gotta get going too, and practice with Utau… she's fierce in things like this." He dumped his trash into the trashcan as he smiled before leaving the cafeteria.

"That just leaves us," Tadase stated. Amu had finished her lunch and was already thinking about the steps that she needed to practice. "Amu, do you need another partner to help you out?"

Amu looked up from her lap at Tadase. The question surprised her, "Not really, but it'd be helpful on days when Ikuto is busy."

* * *

And thus, began their practice. She was nervous at first because this was the first time she danced so intimately with another guy other than Ikuto. With her heart pounding, she told him the steps that she needed to go over and began to learn from Tadase.

Immediately, she noticed something different. The way Tadase taught was much easier to follow, and easier to remember. It was as if he had the gift to teach very well. She questioned why when Ikuto taught her, it was always so full of… full of… _tension;_ tension that she couldn't describe without that pleasurable wave that shook her body and be weak at her knees. But when Ikuto taught her, she realized, it felt so much smoother and quick than the way that Tadase was teaching her.

Nonetheless, she learned quite a bit from Tadase, but at the end of the lesson, she found that he didn't teach her as much as Ikuto had. He hadn't asked her questions or quizzed her on the tango. In fact, she even felt… _empty_ from the lesson unlike the one with Ikuto. After the practices with Ikuto, she was always left with the feeling of a sort of triumph rather than the knowledge of knowing that she had done it well.

"Amu, you know all of these steps so well, why do you need me to teach you?" Tadase asked with slight confusion.

"I do?" she asked. Actually, he was right. She become conscious of the fact that the steps that Tadase had taught her to learn was the exact same ones that Ikuto had whispered into her ear. Did Ikuto actually teach her more than she had expected?

"Yeah, you don't misstep nor do you flinch at the sudden change of tempo; I don't see anything wrong with your form so far," he complimented.

"Wait, so far?"

He nodded. "Ikuto has taught you the 'basics' and a bit of the intermediate ones, which is kind of surprising if you include the fact that he has only taught you in two sessions."

Mildly, she thought back to what Ikuto had said at their last session, that he was going to drill into her mind every move there was to the tango… but he hadn't. She had been so distracted by his touch that she really didn't…

Wait a minute, his touch?!

"Although, you're a bit rough on some of the adornments moves…"

"Huh?" Amu was confused. Ikuto hadn't taught her that yet… had he?

"Oh, I suppose he was probably going to teach you that tomorrow. Come, let's practice some more."

Amu nodded slowly before taking up her position again. Tadase danced at a rather further distance than Ikuto had, and Amu felt the difference. Meekly, she wanted to dance with Ikuto more regarding this kind of tango… Tadase just doesn't seem to fit it very well.

After they danced, Amu left to head to the studios. She wanted to dance vigorously, despite the dance practice with Tadase, but he just didn't have the roughness and the heat for it. He was too gentle to be able to do that with her.

She walked around the studios, trying to find an open studio and she found one with Kairi and Yaya. She giggled and entered the room as quietly as she could, only to see in surprise that they seemed about finished. Yaya noticed when Amu came in as she walked towards her towel and water.

"Amu… what's up?" Yaya asked, tilting her head. "You usually never come looking for me… so is something up?"

Amu smiled, "Not really, I wanted to see what you were up to, but I see you were practicing with Kairi."

Yaya nodded, "Yeah, but I'm about done though and I gotta get started on the homework, so I'll see you in the dorm room, 'k?" Yaya hugged her lightly before dashing out of the room.

"You've caught me at the wrong time," Kairi said as he dried himself off with a towel.

"Oh? When would be a good time for me to come back and find out more clear information?" Amu asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kairi looked at her for a moment before he greeted the person who came in.

"Hello, Nagihiko."

Amu turned around and saw that it was indeed Nagi, but he was not alone, he was with Rima as well.

"Rima? Nagi?" Amu said their names, confused. Then she remembered that they were partners, but she clearly knew that at this time, Rima would have gone up to their dorm first. So what was she still doing here with Nagi?

"Amu," Rima sounded surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask the same thing," Amu said, suddenly wary. She was concerned, but cautious as to what might happen next.

Rima didn't seem to show very much very often, and when she did, it was always when she was reading her gag books. In fact, Amu rarely see her do any sort of emotion instead of that haughty one that she always seemed to wear; the one everyone knows, where the girl thinks she's all that when she's not; the one who always gets all of the guys' attention.

Rima only scoffed. Nagihiko sighed, "Just because you know of me, doesn't mean you ought to stick close to me."

"Who said I was sticking close to _you_?"

Nagi twitched, smiling but his eyebrows narrowed to show that he was irritated. Amu wondered why they were together in the first place if their personalities didn't exactly… _click_ together. And they were partners! How are they going to be able to be in sync with each other for the Christmas Show, let alone dance together during practices?

But didn't Yaya say something about Rima liking Nagihiko…?

_I wonder if you were lying, Yaya…_ she thought. But she remembered the blush of embarrassment on her face when Yaya had mentioned it. It seemed short-lived, now that she thought about it, how could anyone not blush in embarrassment at that sort of thing?

"Well, then why are you here?" Nagi asked as he set down his bag of what appears to be his dance gear.

Rima didn't reply but she glanced up at Amu. Taken aback, she wondered what Rima was going to say.

"Cause I was looking for Amu," she said.

"Eh?!" they exclaimed in unison.

What did Rima want with Amu when she seemed like she could care less what happens?

* * *

The next day, Amu had gone over the events that had happened afterward. Rima and Amu had headed up to their dorm room and Rima quietly said thanks for going along with it and then went off to bed.

In the morning, Amu found out that she was stuck with Rima to help her out a bit with some of the dance moves she was having difficulty with. Yaya had to go off to practice with Kairi and Utau… who knows what had happened with her because all Amu knew was that she was being a real… bitch that it was pissing Amu off. Rima had simply said that Kusu, her best friend and comedy partner, was busy that day, but would come by later and Nagihiko said that he had some catching up to do with his schoolwork. Amu had nothing to do until later, having finished her homework, and wouldn't have anything to do until Ikuto called her and told her that it was time for their lessons.

They were in the cafeteria now, just the two of them at a single table. Amu had decided to help her out with some homework that they both had in core classes and having finished that, they went to lunch. Despite that, Rima was still unwilling to open up about herself. However, she managed to learn a little about Rima's lifestyle, just from observations. Rima was closed off because of something that was happening at home, from the conversations she heard when she was on the phone, and that something traumatic must have happened in order for her to be like this. She also seemed very, very, _very_ scared of the male students around campus, which made Amu wonder why she was able to be with Nagi so comfortably…

"How's your lunch, Rima?" Amu asked, trying to strike up a conversation during their break. For the past morning, she's been trying to make friends with Rima, but she had remained guarded throughout their entire time together.

"It's… good," Rima replied.

_Well, that's more than I usually get while trying to talk to her alone,_ Amu thought, sipping on a straw of her health drink. She stopped sipping when she noticed a strange look on her face. "What's up? Is something on my face?"

"N-No… there isn't… it's just… aren't you… don't you hate me?" Rima asked.

She blinked. "Now why would I hate you?" Sure, she had some major issues regarding her personality, and the way she acted, but Amu assumed from her observations of earlier that it was due to something major happening to her and so, didn't hold it against her for being like that.

"It's just that-" She stopped speaking when some girls walked by with a sneer on their faces. When they thought they were far enough from ear shot, Amu began to hear their conversation.

"Did you see her?"

"Yeah, yeah! I saw her! Rima sure is cute, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is; just like a slut ought to be," one of the voices had said with such… such… Amu didn't know the word, but she felt as if those words to describe Rima weren't true.

For a moment, Amu remembered something very important.

Often when she was at lunch, she saw Rima practicing very hard at her dances and when she was down, she would pick up one of her gag books and laugh. Amu had found out a bit later that she was friends Kusu, who _always_ laughed and had jokes with her; she was always able to make Rima laugh and together, and from what Amu had seen, they were a pair not to be messed with in the world of comedy. Add to that what Amu had found out just by hanging out with her today, it felt totally wrong.

"God, I wonder how many guys she's slept with… I mean, look at her! All the guys practically fawn over her when they see her; she pisses me off."

Amu began to feel more and more irritated. She looked at Rima, and was shocked to find a look on her face that showed that she was about to cry. She realized at that moment that Rima only used her gag books and laughs to hide away from the cruel life of the insanely jealous girls. She suddenly became aware of the fact that Rima also must have been bullied just for being what she is, and that she could not suddenly change that. Amu hoped silently that Rima would stand up to defend herself, but she was so pale, so scared, that she appeared about to burst out and cry.

"And she must love all the attention that comes from the guys, I mean, they practically-"

_Slam!_

Silent echoed throughout the cafeteria… even the lunch ladies stopped doing what they were doing to see what had happened.

Amu stood up, thoroughly pissed off as she crossed her arms across her chest, "Girls who gossip about what someone else does in their own time must really have a _lot_ of free time, surely, you could have been using that time to practice dancing, singing, playing your instrument or whatever you're majoring here? Because, it seems to me, that you aren't even _serious_ about studying here."

She watched as the girls' expression paled significantly and change to a various sort of colors. The lunch ladies went back to work while the rest of the student body continued to watch.

"H-How dare you insult me?!" the girl screeched, standing up and raising a hand about to slap Amu. She closed her eyes instinctively, waiting for the blow. When nothing came, she opened her eyes and gasped in surprise as she found it to be Ikuto, who stepped in before the girl slapped Amu; but now on his face, there was a reddening mark that appeared.

"If you must be violent, then _clearly_, you do not care about your place at Artistically Sensational," Ikuto said in a dangerously low voice. "I would advise you to refrain from doing anything violent least you'll never step onto the school grounds again."

The teachers were watching carefully, to see how the female student would take it. Though they may be the teachers of the school, they're also aware of the gossip and rumors that often surround many students and therefore, watch them to see what they do; if they cannot handle such a thing like this, and then they will not survive out in the world of whatever industry they plan to go to.

The girl could not reply and simply wrenched her hand sharply from Ikuto's grip. Her teeth gritted and her eyes scared and herself pale, she managed to apologize, "I'm sorry for any act of violence I may have showed, Mr. Tsukiyomi."

_Again, with that formality…_

She watched as Ikuto smiled and said, "I'm glad to hear it, now please, go to the teachers on the side and tell them what you did. I hope to see your skill in the Christmas Show."

The girl turned on her heel and left with the teachers. One of the teachers stayed behind and looked at Ikuto for a moment as she nodded before leaving the cafeteria. Some of the other teachers remained behind, to watch for any further conflict… and when they saw that there was not to be any, they left.

Amu dropped back into her seat shakily, relieved that it was over. She hadn't been expecting her confrontation to turn violent.

"Amu, I will see you a bit later for our practice sessions, all right? Until then," he smirked as he ruffled up her hair before leaving.

She couldn't even utter a retort to him when she realized he had already left.

"Ah, I forgot to thank him," Amu said. And added in a softer tone, "And if he was all right…"

Rima looked at her with a gaze that Amu couldn't figure out. They left the cafeteria and headed out to one of the fields that the school had. They climbed a hill that overlooked the school and felt the breeze on the faces and Amu relaxed significantly and laid down to rest.

"Thank you."

Amu opened her eyes and turned to face Rima, who was sitting next to her with her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them.

"Oh, ah, you're welcome… I would have done that for any friend of mine," Amu said softly before turning her eyes up to the sky.

"F-Friend…? You consider me a friend, despite what… despite how I've treated you?" Rima asked. She looked at Amu with confusion, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

Amu shrugged, "I noticed how you were during our time together, and you're not that bad… I'm sure you have your reasons for being how you are. Everyone is different and I don't expect everyone to like me… but I wanted to be your friend because you're my roommate and also because, I think you'd make a great best friend."

Rima didn't say anything as they continued to sit in the sun and wind for awhile. It seemed what Amu had said made Rima think a lot more of Amu and who she should ought to listen to and confide in.

"Then thank you," Rima said again, this time, it sounded very sincere and quiet, as if Rima had suddenly gotten shy.

Amu smiled, "You're welcome… You know, whenever you need to talk, just ask, and I'll be there, all right?"

Rima nodded and looked at the time, "Ah, I'm gonna be late; I gotta meet up with Kusu!" She got up and began to run down hill as Amu sat up. She stopped running halfway down the hill and turned to face her.

"I-I'll lend you some of my gag books for repayment…"

Amu laughed. "You don't have to! As I said, I'm your friend and it was no big."

Rima only nodded mutely before smiling timidly and then turning to run away. _Whatever her reasons are for being the way she is,_ Amu thought, _I'm sure she'll open up to me eventually… After all, if she could smile like that at me, then I'm sure I'm making some sort of progress._

Amu looked at the time and gasped before getting up and running downhill toward the dance studios. "Aw crap, I'm so screwed," she said aloud as she ran.

_Ikuto is going to kill me…_

When she entered, she found him again staring off into space, with this look on his face that Amu couldn't figure out. Why was it that he was always spacing out? More importantly, what is he thinking about?

Amu's face fell into something similar to that of worry and concern as she realized how lonely he looked with that expression on his face. And yet, he also looked very much chained down for some reason… as if he had a burden that only he alone, carried.

He sighed as he looked around the room and spotted Amu. Immediately, his serious expression, his loneliness, and his everything became hidden behind a smirk. She was struck with the sudden awareness that he was hiding everything from everyone.

Immediately the questions she had while talking with Nagi and Kairi came flooding back with such force, she fell, but was caught in Ikuto's arms.

"Amu…?"

What was Ikuto doing here? Why did he work for Easter? What sort of burden was he carrying? Which rumor was true and which ones were false? Did Ikuto know where his father was? Was he really running away from Easter? What did he know of the key and lock's powers? Did he know of such a thing going on? Better yet, why was he involved at all? Why did Ikuto always seem to look so lonely whenever Amu came in to watch him before their dance sessions?

Despite only two sessions, Amu was beginning to sense that something was wrong with Ikuto and that something was wrong in general… but how was she going to ask Ikuto himself about her worries, her questions?

"Amu, are you all right?" he asked again, sitting her up right. He sat before her, his eyes reflecting something similar to worry and yet it was still hidden behind a stoic mask.

"No, Ikuto, are _you_ all right?" Amu asked instead. She looked at him with intense concern, for a man who had stolen her first kiss, and for the heavy burden that seemed to rest upon his young shoulders. He was only twenty-two; still so young compared to the likes of her parents and grandparents…

"Pardon…?" Taken aback, he didn't understand what had just been asked. "If you meant by the slap, I am."

Amu, at that moment, decided to throw away any anger that she may have held for him and decided to try to find out more about this irritating man. Why was she so concerned about him anyway?

"I asked if you are all right, and no, I didn't mean the slap," Amu stated, more of a statement rather than a question.

Ikuto looked at her carefully, with a blank expression as he looked over her face before getting up to go toward his bags, his back facing her.

"Don't confuse my attention to you for something that you ought to concern yourself with," he said blankly. "You're only an outsider." He took out a bandage and placed it over the area where the girl had slapped him in the face, after taking off the first one.

She felt a strange twist in her chest and held her hand to her chest, wondering for a split second what that meant. Before she could say anymore, he said, "After all, you're only mistaking your heart for something that's not real."

Suddenly, she felt annoyed, "W-What the hell are you talking about?"

"Forget it, let's get on with the lesson," Ikuto said with a wave of his hand.

"No! We're going to talk about this; what the hell did you mean?"

Ikuto turned to face her and said with a smirk, "You're much too young to understand the likes of a grown man."

Flushing with embarrassment and anger, she retorted, "Who said I was too young? I probably understand more of your situation than you would know!"

Ikuto said nothing for a moment and walked over to the stereo and flicked on the tango music.

"If you're not going to listen to me, then listen to the music… I trust that you had some practice?" he totally just ignored her question.

He forcefully took her by the hand and took his place, and roughly pulled her close to his own body. She flushed instantly and he smirked.

Again, just like his sessions before, he taught her with such intimacy, such fluidity that Amu absorbed all of the teachings he gave her within those two hours. She managed to forget her earlier anger and questions and put her frustrations into her dancing with Ikuto.

That day, he didn't question her for his quiz, but still taught her more and more as she learned them more and more rapidly. She learned what adornments were: they were in-the-moment improvisations that the women dancing the tango often throw in. And indeed, Ikuto had taught her what they were, just like Tadase predicted. By the time their session had ended, Amu was again sitting with Ikuto in a bucket of ice and water.

She watched him as he pulled the ice and water over his joints. Softly, she observed that he had rather long eyelashes for a man and had the prettiest hair she's ever seen on a guy. For a moment, she winced inwardly when she noticed that he again, smelled _really_ good.

"All right, enough for today, and I'll see you tomorrow." He got up and dried off his feet and legs on a towel and took her out of it and dumped the bucket of ice and water outside.

"Ikuto, you hadn't answered any of my questions," Amu glared.

He turned to look at her as he was about to leave and smirked, "If you can impress me with your leading one month before the Christmas Show, then I just might let you in on what's going on with me."

He left with that.

* * *

For the next several days, everything went very uneventful. Well, aside from the moments where Amu was thoroughly pissed off at the girls bullying Rima from behind her back…

For example, like one day where Amu went to pick her up from one of her classes to begin their day together, she discovered that Rima's locker had been vandalized.

Rima had just gotten out of class and Amu had walked by several girls snickering. When she realized that Rima had just gotten to her locker like that, Amu had enough. This was the fifth time this week that Amu found something like this.

"You know what, Rima, you should hold your head up high and stand up to those bitches and actually say what you have on your mind, because if you don't they're only going to continue this bullcrap," she growled, glaring at the group of girls nearby, scaring them as they ran off.

"Like that, do it like that or actually say some threats once in awhile, for crying out loud."

Rima laughed.

_Wait, what just happened?_ Amu thought with confusion written on her face.

The students nearby began to laugh too as they walked by, surprised that petite Rima could laugh like that and so freely. This really just scared off the rest of the people nearby who wanted to do any more harm.

"Thank you, Amu," Rima said as she took out her bag and slung over head onto her shoulder. "But I think I can handle myself from now on; thanks for the support." Rima smiled genuinely at her friend and Amu wondered what had happened.

When they got to their dorm room, Amu plopped onto the bed. It was November 20th, and Amu realized the deadline for trying to impress Ikuto was getting closer. _A few more days…_

Rima sat down next to her on her bed. Amu blinked and looked over at Rima. "Is something wrong?"

Rima shook her head and looked firm in whatever sort of decision she had made.

"Amu, I think it's time I told you a bit more about myself."

* * *

**REVIEW! You know you want to! And go ahead and review, telling me what you would like to see happen or a particular dance you want them to try. Again, please and thank you!**


	5. The Heart

**Summary:**  
Amu continues to try to figure out Ikuto's problem while learning a horrifying secret about Rima. As things couldn't get much worse, Ikuto reveals Kairi for who he truly once was. Amuto. R&R.

**Author's Note:**  
OMG, I FINALLY UPDATED. Okay, ever since I got a boyfriend, it's been really hard to update… forgive me. From now on, I'm just going to try to update, period. I don't even know if you guys really like this story. D: But anyway… like yeah… This is the chapter before the climax of Kairi's and Rima's arcs. Nagi's will be coming up shortly, or better yet, right in the next chapter. It makes you wonder what exactly is his arc is. Hmm… Oh and, sorry about this chapter being shorter than the last one. I needed to find the right ending for this chapter without going too far into the next one.

And also, please be mindful and forgive me for I have recently started college am currently looking for a job so my days might be even busier than before. I was also out of the country for the past month in June so I didn't get the chance to update then either. Sorry everyone! But I'll try really hard to update!

&& Here's your chapter~ ENJOY~!

**Disclaimer**:  
Shugo Chara and all related characters and elements are the property, copyright and trademark of Peach Pit and no ownership or claim on said property, copyright or trademark is made or implied by their use in the work(s) of fan fiction presented here. This fan fiction constitutes a personal comment on the aforesaid properties pursuant to doctrines of fair use and fair comment. This fan fiction is non-commercial, not for sale or profit, and may not be sold or reproduced for commercial purposes.

* * *

Chapter Five: The Heart :: Tango Part 5

"Eh?" Amu blinked. When did this come about? Sure, she and Rima have hung out quite often for the past few weeks; heck, Amu was pretty sure that they got way closer than most people in high school nowadays… After all, the pair of them lived in the same dorm room _and_ they also spent a lot of time outside of class together, despite the complexities of not being in the same building. They even ate lunch together every day right after that incident in the cafeteria. But, Amu hadn't been expecting that Rima would come to her suddenly like this.

"Now would be best, after all, Yaya and Utau aren't here now and… I kind of want to only tell you," Rima clarified. "Kusu said that I ought to and she knows of my situation… she thinks that by telling you what happened to me, it'd make it easier for you to understand why I am the way that I am."

Amu nodded slowly, pulling a pillow to rest under her chin as she listened. "Mhmm…"

Rima frowned. Was Amu really listening? She took a deep breath to calm herself; however, she didn't get the chance to say the next few words as the sound of a key inserting into the lock was heard. Rima looked back at Amu after they heard it and she sighed.

Utau came into the room and blinked when she walked in seeing Rima and Amu sitting on the same bed. "Did I interrupt something?"

"N-No, you didn't," Rima said before getting off Amu's bed and curling up into her own under the blankets.

"All right then." Utau then proceeded to do the usual before-bed routine stuff before heading to her own bed and picking up a book. By then, Amu heard the slow, rhythmic breathing of Rima that told her that she was sleeping already. _She sure falls asleep fast…_ Amu thought.

"Utau, are you still reading those complex books?" Amu asked, trying to make conversation with her roommate.

Utau just glanced at Amu before she shook her head and then climbed into bed. "I'm turning the lights out, so good night." Before Amu had a chance to respond, Utau clicked off her lights and shuffled around in her bed to get comfortable to sleep.

Amu sighed and decided that it was best for her to sleep now as well, seeing that there was nothing else to do.

* * *

Amu woke up the next morning, earlier than usual. She rolled around in bed, staring at the alarm clock. The blue digital numbers on there read 5:49 AM. She groaned softly before rolling around in bed again. She couldn't stop thinking about what Rima was going to say to her last night. It was puzzling, yet at the same time, Amu felt like she didn't want to know.

Realizing that she wasn't going to get anymore sleep, she rolled out of bed and into the bathroom. Her classes didn't start until noon that day, so she decided to go do some dancing in practice before she comes back for some more sleep, hoping it'll actually come to her this time.

She left the dorm room at 6:18 AM and headed to the dance studio. When she walked by the mailboxes, she wondered what time the mail comes and decided to go ask the front office when she had time.

When she walked through the hallways at almost seven in the morning, she discovered that it was eerily quiet. She felt like every step she made was louder than the last, that her breathing somehow became more pronounced and louder than before. Suddenly, she felt like a secret agent on a mission as she crept through the hallways, knowing full well that there was no one there to watch her, she began to walk through the halls like she thought an agent would. She clung to the side of the walls, moved about and hid behind random plants and peeked over into the next hallway. She wasn't aware, however, that there was someone else in the halls.

By the time she got to a dance studio that she liked (which ironically is the same room that she and Ikuto often danced in), she crept inside. She almost jumped in surprise when she found that there was a body on the ground, the face hidden by a towel. Nearby, there was a dance bag, a bucket full of water, some clothes, and some kind of special bag. There were other items nearby that surprised her such as a violin case and a book that contained sheet music. The bag looked familiar as did the person lying on the ground was, but really, without a head, it seemed like she couldn't recognize who it was.

And yet… she felt something niggling at the back of her mind that she knew who it was. The chest, the length of the arms, his long, lean legs…

He wore only a black tank top with several bands around his arms and some baggy pants. He wore foot braces, but otherwise, his feet were bare. Then, when the sun finally shined into the room, she noticed that the sun hit his hair and immediately, she recognized him. She stumbled backward, almost alarmed as she fell.

It was midnight blue.

In a flash, dozens upon dozens of questions riddled her mind, causing utter confusion. Finally, she decided to see if it was really him and crawled forward to lift up the towel. She lifted it slowly and found that he was asleep. His even breathing that was slow and deep and the fact that his eyes were closed said so too. She resisted the urge to move aside a few strands of his hair out of his face. She blushed, however, when she became conscious of the fact that he had long eyelashes for a guy. And she couldn't help but also notice that his skin looked soft and smooth, as if it looked like someone ought to touch them.

Then she moved back and crossed her legs to rest her elbows on her knees while also resting her chin on her hands. She sighed softly when she came to the conclusion that he must have been here for a long time, given the fact that he even fell asleep here. She almost giggled when she thought him to be very dedicated, enough to the point where he almost practically breathed the dance studio.

Her mind than began to wander about him. Why was he here? How long was he here for? What does Ikuto do here at the school? Is he a student or a teacher? Why does he have a violin case here with him when he was clearly someone who really knew how to dance?

She shook her head abruptly when the questions began to go out of hand. _No! I mustn't think too much on this… after all, this is Ikuto… not something that ought to be gossiped about_, she told herself.

Instead, she decided to take notice his facial features. He had long eyelashes (she couldn't help but keep noticing it) with smooth skin. He looked peaceful without that smirk on his face, which, by the way, sometimes irritated her to no end. He had saved her the other day from the slap that the girl in the cafeteria had almost given her. She noted that the mark on his face was no longer there.

Ikuto's cell phone began to ring, causing him to jerk awake as his eyes opened slowly. Startled and alarmed, she looked around to try to find a place to hide and did so successfully underneath the table that was covered in a cloth. She moved aside a little bit of the table cloth and watched as Ikuto sat up awake, flicking open the phone.

"Hello?" he answered. His voice was soft but it was groggy and a little husky. Was he sick?

Being as the room was very spacious and empty, the voice on the phone sounded clear when it spoke.

"Where are you? Do you know what time it is?"

Ikuto groaned softly before he answered, "It's half passed six… not even eight yet."

"You know it's due on the hour."

"Yes, yes… I'll give it to you, don't worry about it." He sounded annoyed.

"Watch your tone. If you don't want me to pull the plug on your mother, then keep it up with that attitude of yours."

It sounded like a man trying to sound like a father while making threats… which to Amu, sounded very lame, but she knew that it was serious. She wondered what was wrong with his mother.

"Got it," he said briskly. "Is there anything else?"

"Yeah… where _are_ you?"

Ikuto pulled away the phone to angrily mutter something before putting it to his ear again. "I'm resting… Like I said, I'll make good on the papers."

"You better." Then he hung up. Ikuto flicked his phone shut before throwing it at a nearby wall, shattering the phone as it fell to pieces on the ground with a clatter. Amu flinched, almost banging her head on the table. She couldn't see his face, but she knew that he was angry… or annoyed… either one. She heard him mutter another few sentences before he stood up and stretched. She watched as his muscles flexed and she blushed as her mind began reeling. She felt perverted as she imagined what he would look like without his shirt on… and felt embarrassed for even thinking of it. Why was she so embarrassed at seeing Ikuto like that?

Imagining what Tadase looked like bare-chested made her heart race a little, but it really didn't so much as cause a flush across her face as it did with Ikuto. Tadase may be a "prince" but he wasn't at all… _sexy_ like the way Ikuto was. She admired his form and even his eyes…

"Damn… I'm going to have to get a new phone…_ again_," he muttered as he came to the table. She heard the loud bang as he dropped his bag onto the table and it sounded like he was packing his clothes into it. He grabbed his belongings and she heard shuffling of papers before she heard him walk away. The door clicked shut and Amu moved out from under the table.

"What was all that about?"

* * *

The last thing Amu thought that she was getting when she left the dorm room that morning was a sort of peek into Ikuto's life. She sighed when she woke up again for the second time that day, looking at the alarm clock, it read 11:09. She got up, getting ready again for classes. But when she finished everything and was walking off to class again, her mind thought toward Ikuto again. There was so many things that she didn't understand about him, and there was so many questions that were left unanswered. It felt as if the more she tried to figure him out, the more the questions kept quickly piling up. What was Ikuto going through exactly?

She sighed and walked to her mail box, slid the key in, and clicked it to the side to unlock it. Again, inside was the same package that had always been inside of there. It came randomly, but it always gave her a pleasant surprise. This time, inside the package was a silver heart bracelet with a soft tinge of pink over the edges, giving it an appearance of splatter paint.

"How pretty!" she whispered, picking it up to angle it toward the sunlight and found to her surprise, that it wasn't actually silver, it only _looked_ like silver. So when the light hit it, so many kinds of lights appeared of all colors! She gasped in surprise, discovering that the heart was the more beautiful kind of jewel she had ever seen. How did her admirer manage to do that, or better yet, buy it?

She snuck it into her clothes bag, deep down into the pockets so no one would find the package. She then headed off to class, bumping into Yaya, who looked deathly pale.

"Wha-What's wrong Yaya?" Amu gasped. She hadn't realized she had been running; thus, causing Yaya to fall down on her behind. As she helped her up, Yaya began to explain.

"It's Rima! She's being bullied again!"

"Again?" She almost sounded as if she was going to snap. This was seriously getting ridiculous! What kind of school is this if they still continue and insist on bullying someone that they are so clearly jealous of? "Where?"

"D-Down there," Yaya pointed, nearing the point of tears. As Yaya guided the way, Amu came to a bunch of guys that were beginning to corner Rima. Her face was so pale, that it made Amu feel like that something was wrong with her. Rima's body shook so hard, that Amu couldn't help but realize that something was very viciously wrong with this picture.

"Get away from her!" Amu shouted, shaking slightly as well as she felt Yaya behind her grip her shirt sleeve more tightly. After all, these weren't girls, these were _men._ They weren't boys like the kind back in high school; they were grown men with plenty of raw aggression to go around… not to mention that their bodies were very well-built with muscles that could probably shatter her bones.

A few of the guys turned her way, wondering who it was that shouted. One of them cast his gaze up and down Yaya and Amu's form, appraising them with a smirk… a smirk that sent a chill up her spine. It wasn't the kind that was pleasurable… it was _fear._

"N-No… G-GET AWAY FROM ME!" Rima screamed as one of the guys tried grabbing her arm. She shrieked loudly at the top of her lungs, making the guys near her move close to her. The other handful of guys (there was only like six of them) began to head toward where Amu and Yaya stood. The cries that Rima emitted were horrible and it made Amu grit her teeth. She gathered up all of her strength and jumped, turned her torso so that her leg swung around and kicked the closest guy in the face. She landed on the ground as she sent the guy she kicked sprawling backward on the ground, groaning. For a moment, the other two guys that were walking toward them watched in momentary bewilderment.

_Well… so my dancing really does help in other areas…_ Amu thought. He sat up awkwardly, rubbing his face where it hit him, but couldn't seem to focus properly so his other two friends began to venture toward Amu and Yaya.

She heard another loud, vibrating cry echo through the halls that caused her very nerves to scream to help Rima. Tears streamed down her face, her eyes dilated with horror. Yaya screamed, snapping Amu to look to the side where Yaya was being pushed up against the wall, and then suddenly, she was seized by the other guy that had been remaining.

Suddenly, she blinked when she realized that he was no longer holding her. Instead, a flash of midnight blue hair appeared before her, ready to face the guy he had just so rudely punched. He stood before her, and she knew his form even without seeing his face.

"Ikuto…"

Then from the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of purple and then green. A loud smack reverberated down the hall and a loud snap echoed thereafter. Followed by two more powerful kicks and the other two guys were down.

Now that all of the guys were down, Amu ran toward Rima, who flinched so visibly under her hands, that Amu pulled her hands away. "Rima?" she called softly.

Rima looked up, so timidly and afraid. When she realized it was Amu, she reached out her fingers and hands and then wrapped them around Amu's neck. She cried so hard into Amu's shoulder, she hugged and squeezed Rima. "It's okay… It's okay…" Amu murmured, stroking her head.

"Assholes," Kairi muttered as he helped Yaya up, who also shook so hard that she also began to cry. Kairi was surprised and awkwardly held her.

Amu felt someone approach her from behind and she looked up to find herself staring at Nagihiko. On his face was worry and concern.

"Are you all right, Rima?" he said so softly, that it made Rima stiffen slightly, but she only squeezed her grip on Amu more tightly.

But she didn't answer and he sighed. Amu moved slightly so that she could sit more comfortably on the floor, watching the three males converse.

"Ikuto, how have you been?" Nagi asked. She couldn't decipher the tone of voice that he was using with Ikuto.

His eyes flashed almost dangerously a moment before he spoke up, "I've been _wonderful_." Amu flinched at the amount of sarcasm used in the word, wondering what was wrong. She watched as he nudged with his foot to check out if they're unconscious. "I've already reported them to the security and should be here any minute now…"

Just as he had predicted, they appeared and began shaking the males awake that were sprawled out on the floor. They cuffed them and shuffled them off. When they stopped questioning everyone, they left about an hour or so later and said that they'll call on each of them again later for further questioning. They had been sympathetic, looking at Rima's condition.

When they were out of ear shot, Amu realized that Rima's reaction to the situation was far more different than she had expected. Yes, she expected her to be scared or even angry… but she was not, she was shaking so hard and so cold, it made Amu extremely worried. The look of horror was still on her face along with what seemed like endless streams of tears.

Then it clicked.

And then there wasn't anything she could say.

Absolutely _nothing_.

And so, they sat in silence while Yaya and Rima cried, waiting for their fears and horrors to disappear.

The human heart is so fragile…

* * *

Amu was sitting with Rima and Yaya in their dorm room, with Ikuto, Kairi, and Nagihiko watching over them. Ikuto had told them that they were excused from classes today and that they were emotionally exhausted to be trying any sort of dancing. Amu was pretty sure that she had dozed off once or twice, waiting for one of them to speak up. Yaya recovered first, by being able to fall asleep. Kairi tucked her in after having removed her shoes. Then Rima followed soon after, crying until she was absolutely worn out and Amu helped her into bed.

After a long few minutes of silence, Amu's voice cracked, her body finally realizing that it was her turn to relax and cry; that the horror had passed. She fell backward into Ikuto's arms as she cried, her body shaking from the fright that she had realized had taken a much deeper hold on her than she had expected. Nagi and Kairi only watched in hush as Ikuto soothed the terror that was in her body. He only stroked her hair and held her close to his own body for several long minutes, as only Amu's quiet cries were heard throughout the room.

Ikuto murmured soft assurances into Amu's ear, words that only she could hear. Nagihiko glanced at Kairi for a moment when they noticed something that was on Ikuto's face.

Amu didn't care for what was going on right at that current moment… she only wanted to feel the comfort that Ikuto's embrace offered. Miraculously and astoundingly, Amu found all of her tension from her worries of the attack and the instant terror she felt were slowly disappearing from her body. He was warm, firm, and most importantly of all, comforting. Along with the fact that his voice was lingering just right by her ear, she had never felt so safe before in another's arms before. She greedily latched onto Ikuto and squeezed out of him any kind of comfort he was willing to offer and what shocked her was the never-ending feeling that he kept giving her. Eventually, she, herself, even fell asleep… although, instead of falling asleep in a bed, she had fallen asleep in Ikuto's arms.

When she woke up again, she found herself in her bed now, wondering bleary-eyed what had happened. Ikuto had fallen asleep next to her and Nagi had dozed off leaning against the wall. Even Kairi was still in the room as he was beginning to doze off, his head drooping every so often to the side. She nudged Ikuto awake after she found that it was almost time for dinner.

"Ikuto…?" she whispered, nudging him awake.

For an instant, Amu felt a strange chill go down her spine when his eyes flashed open. It was scary and frightening, and she had never seen that kind of expression on his face. His eyes glared at her, before she watched it soften to something that was similar to warmth and… something that she couldn't recognize in his eyes.

"Amu…" His voice uttering her name sent a pleasurable wave throughout her body. His voice had always been so velvety… and smooth that she would love to hear it over and over again… but to hear it like the way he had just said; she could have sworn he had said her name with _love_.

Blushing vividly, she stuttered, trying not to wake the others, "I-Ikuto… H-how long w-was I asleep?"

He glanced at the digital clock that was on her nightstand and leaned close as to also not disturb the others, "A few hours…"

His face was so close to her own, that she could hear her own heart beating so hard, that she felt that it was going to burst at any moment. Her heart raced and her face turned even redder. With only mere centimeters from each other's faces, all Ikuto had to do was lean in forward to kiss her, if he wanted to.

"Are you all right…?" he asked as his fingers stroked her cheek.

She felt a shiver of delight run down her body before she replied, biting down her voice that she knew that would wake the others for it had surprised her, "Y-Yes…"

Why was Ikuto being so gentle toward her all of the sudden? Why was he being so… warm? What was that expression that was usually always smirking, but was now covered visibly with emotions that she didn't know Ikuto could show?

His eyes alarmed her… and she couldn't take her eyes away from them. They reflected so many emotions that she could now clearly recognize: conflict. He was conflicted with something inside of himself and it looked like he wanted to tell her something but could not. What was going on with Ikuto that caused such a painful expression to appear on his face? Was this the reason why he always appeared so lonely?

Before they could speak anymore to each other, Nagihiko coughed, interrupting their moment together. The two of them flinched back and glanced toward where Nagihiko and Kairi were standing. There was Tadase and Kukai as well, who had came here as soon as they had heard the trouble.

"Ikuto… I don't mean to interrupt your little moment with Amu, but the both of us want to speak to you," Nagihiko said softly. The other two girls were still asleep, but Tadase's eyes flashed with… jealousy and anger? Amu couldn't tell but all she knew was that Tadase was glaring at Ikuto.

Ikuto took this moment to reflect on some of his thoughts before Amu watched him answer, "I figured as much… after all; you've been pretty busy trying to investigate me, yes? And hello, Kiddie King." He smirked at his last remark.

They looked taken aback before clearing throats to speak again. Amu noticed that something was different in Kairi's behavior… Why did he keep glancing her way? Judging from what Nagihiko and Kairi were behaving, however, it would mean that Tadase and Kukai were also privy to the information that they had told her awhile back.

"I guess that's the official word for it, but yes, we are," Kairi said. "We have some questions that are in regards to you and Gozen."

Amu didn't even need to look at Ikuto to feel his aura darkening. The room was already dark with the curtains drawn, letting in little sunlight. It would have made it difficult to read the expressions on Ikuto's face if you had only met him for the first time.

"_That_ is a matter that is best left alone," Ikuto's voice was too icy and almost too cruel for him to say that. It was as if it were a mixture of hatred and something else… Was it pained?

Even the four of them winced.

"Should you really ask me such a question? After all, Kairi, you work for Easter too, don't you?" Ikuto continued.

Kairi flinched this time, and then suddenly, the feeling of betrayal ripped through the air. Tadase, Kukai, and Nagihiko couldn't help but stare at Kairi.

"You work for Easter?"

The soft voice that was suddenly heard made everyone look to where it came from. It was Yaya, whose eyes had grown quite large with surprise.

"You work for Easter… The one who is trying to buy this school just so they can demolish it for a private hotel?" Yaya whispered hoarsely, her voice cracking as she became near the edge of tears.

Amu watched as Kairi fisted his hands and hissed, "I don't work for them _anymore._"

"But Kairi… that just means that you've been spying on me and everyone else the entire time…" Ikuto pointed out softly as he looked away.

"Ikuto!" Was Ikuto always this heartless? Amu felt conflict within herself; should she defend Ikuto or Kairi?

"Kairi… don't tell me you're… really…?" Nagihiko began, unable to finish as Kairi grunted and ran from the room in frustration.

"He ran away… and thus, he admits it…" Ikuto wasn't prepared for the slap that sounded throughout the room when Amu's hand had collided with his cheek.

"Why?" Tears began to form in her eyes. "There was no reason why you had to do that."

Ikuto turned toward her with cool eyes, different from the ones she usually saw. She even flinched as he stood up. "Perhaps, I've prolonged my visit here for too long." He briskly walked by Amu, carefully maneuvering himself around her as he walked toward the door.

However, he momentarily paused before the door to say, "Amu, I'll be looking forward to when you can impress me with your skills." She could clearly hear the smirk that was in his voice before he left the room by throwing something at the door, which then proceeded to land on the ground with a dull thud.

Aggravated, Amu threw her pillow. Why did he have to go and say that? Why did he have to hurt someone else? Why was he continually doing… whatever he was doing?

"Amu… I think you ought to calm down a little bit," Kukai said soothingly as his eyes darted to Rima's still-sleeping form. Nagihiko went over to Yaya to calm down her nerves that were almost even visible in waves. Eventually, Yaya managed to fall asleep despite the discovery of betrayal.

The small group headed into the next room over, where they can shut the door as to leave the sleeping girls in peace.

Once Tadase shut the door, Amu snapped, "You guys better tell me what the heck is going on." She was so angry still from Ikuto's cold words and how he had revealed the truth of Kairi's motives. But Amu felt like she knew him better…

Nagihiko sighed, "It's complicated… Ikuto had played on Kairi's feelings of his guilt from even working for Easter in the first place."

Tadase raised his eyebrows in concern, "How was he even working for them in the first place?"

Nagi looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking, "Kairi had only been working for Easter because his elder sister, who already works for them. He stopped working, however, when he realized that he was wrong to work for them, even if his sister was in the company. He didn't want to betray his family."

"But he betrayed us…" Amu said softly.

Kukai shook his head, "Nope; he didn't. He had already _quit_ the company before he even met you, Amu. So… it's been like…"

"Almost six months," Nagi finished.

"What does she work as?" Amu asked. She was curious now about this situation as more and more people began to appear.

"She's a manager of a singer; you're rooming with her," Tadase replied.

"Utau?" She blinked. "Wow, I didn't know she was already in the music business… It would explain why I almost _never _see her nowadays." She shrugged and then took a sip of a drink she had somehow unconsciously brought in when they came in here.

"I think that's enough serious conversation for today, and besides, Amu, you need some rest too," Tadase said, standing up after finishing the beverage of soda. (Where'd that come from?)

Amu nodded, suddenly feeling the heaviness of emotional and physical exhaustion, even though she hadn't at all danced. Today had simply been too heavy for one day. As soon as the guys left, Amu went toward her bed, changed clothes, and curled under her blankets. She curled up and immediately, fell asleep.

* * *

Her dream was not like anything she had seen before.

She saw a man with glasses and hair like that of a samurai. He had sharp eyes and a calm façade that seemed always on alert. He had emerald green hair with almost sea-green eyes. Kairi seemed to look to him as a friend and… something else…

The scene changed and this time, she sees Ikuto talking to someone; a thin, lanky tall young man with piercing golden eyes like a cat and purple-black hair. He had this cheeky expression on his face, almost just like a cat's. Just when she thought Ikuto was cat-like, this guy here was more cat-like than anyone she has ever seen! Ikuto continues to talk to him and the guy next to him can only listen with what seems to be the saddest eyes she's ever seen. There was so much concern on his face, she wondered with so much wonder about what Ikuto was talking to that guy about.

The scene changes again and this time, and this time, she's with three people… one of which is very recognizable as the girl Amu knew as Ran. Then she noticed a girl with blue-black hair with simmering sapphire eyes and fair skin. She held an artist's pad, pen, and brush with a paint smear on her delicate face. She wore a blue beret on her head. The girl next to her was blonde with shining and warm forest green eyes. She had fair skin as well but wore a cooking apron instead of holding an artist's brush. The three of them smiled at her and disappeared. For a moment, Amu felt such a strong recognition from them, that…

She woke up.

* * *

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